


Wildfire and Rain

by milkhye



Category: TXT (Korea Band)
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, M/M, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn, and i'm making you all suffer through it with me, delinquent au, this is my mf slow burn self discovery au, yj and sb have an enemies to lovers sideplot going on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 14:20:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 44,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21646909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/milkhye/pseuds/milkhye
Summary: Beomgyu is the new transfer student that everyone fears with his stone cold gaze. Taehyun is an easygoing guy who laughs easily. It takes one rainy afternoon and a shared blazer for them to realise that maybe they're not so different.OR: Beomgyu is a delinquent and Taehyun is the only one brave enough to talk to him.
Relationships: Choi Beomgyu/Kang Taehyun, Choi Soobin/Choi Yeonjun
Comments: 548
Kudos: 1139





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> ever since i saw that scene of taehyun putting his blazer around beomgyu i have not known PEACE...seeing that was what inspired me to write this lol so enjoy! it's going to be a long ride
> 
> Russian translation by Gddss: https://ficbook.net/readfic/9492223

It’s an innocuous act.

The scrunched up paper ball bounces off the back of the blonde-haired boy’s head with a soft thud, and rests silently on the carpeted floor.

It’s something that would have otherwise gone completely unnoticed in a loud and boisterous classroom, with boys jeering loudly and girls giggling to themselves.

But the room goes silent.

“Ya, aren’t you going to pick that up?” 

With an arm still cocked from the throw, the perpetrator taunts the boy, before grinning obliviously at the lackeys around him, expecting jeers in kind. But they only stare back at him as if he were a stranger.

“What the hell are you doing? Do you even know who that is?” one of them whispers, knocking his arm down furiously. He stares back at them, bewildered, before looking up at the sound of a chair scraping.

The victim of the paper ball stands up, in all of his height, and turns around.

The glare is sharp and hard.

“Who was it that threw the paper ball?” the boy asks, voice deep and unforgiving. 

When the perpetrator looks at his friends for back up, he sees that all of them are staring in separate directions, avoiding eye contact.

What? What was going on?

He looks up at the approaching boy, and subconsciously swallows.

“Was it you? Jinkyung?” the boy takes a second to squint at the name card on his desk, then back at him with that same unforgiving coal-black stare. 

Shit. He knew his name now.

“I- hey, it was just an accident. I didn’t mean it, truly,” Jinkyung stammers, ears turning red. All around him, he sees people exchanging whispers and stares, and he grits his teeth.

Fuck. This was so embarrassing. 

The boy stares down at him for a second longer, the entire class waiting in bated breath for his response. Then he backs off.

“Make sure it doesn’t happen again,” the boy says, then returns back to his seat, pulling his headphones on.

There’s an audible exhale of relief around the room, as he does so.

“Man, what was that? Don’t you know who that was?” one of his lackeys hisses, trembling hands running through his hair.

Know who he was? Why would he?

But looking at the scathing looks of his lackeys around him, Jinkyung feels stupid. He hates feeling stupid.

He snaps.

“What, why should I care about who that is?” he demands, standing up. Both lackeys fall back into their chairs.

“I- we didn’t mean it that way! It’s just- that’s Choi Beomgyu. He’s a transfer student from Daegu, and he’s got an insane reputation. I heard that he fought six delinquents and won,” one of them whispers, to which the other nods.

“Yeah, apparently they were injured to the point of hospitalisation- that’s why he had to transfer over,” another one pipes up, looking around secretively.

Looking back and forth between his lackeys and at the blonde boy at the front of the classroom, he frowns to himself.

Six delinquents? Even that was too much for Jinkyung- there was no way that story was real.

“He’s so cool,” he hears one of the nearby popular girls, Naeun, sigh, and he grits his teeth.

Whoever this kid was, Jinkyung was going to make sure he was grateful he never transferred.

**

“You really had to be there to see it! When the paper hit him, I swear it was like the entire room went silent,” Hueningkai cries, arms flailing in the air as he reenacts the story to his friend. His friend who only stares back with a bemused smile.

It was possibly his third time hearing the story that day, but Taehyun doesn’t bother to stop him- it was cute when the younger got excited. 

And hearing the story back, he thinks it’s more like a fictional story than something that would happen in real life.

While there were kids that acted out in school, the mere thought of anybody’s appearance being so intimidating that even bullies were afraid made him smile to himself.

_Maybe when the kid fights six bullies in front of me as proof- then I’ll believe it_, he thinks, but only nods solemnly along to the younger’s tales.

“Hey, you’re smiling! It’s like you don’t believe me or something!” Hueningkai points, but the elder just pats him on the head.

“No, no, you’re just so cute, Hyuka,” Taehyun coos, before the other slaps off his hand, looking embarrassed. 

“Jeez, no need to baby me,” he says, although he secretly looks pleased.

Taehyun laughs to himself, and thinks, _even if I were to encounter someone like that, I can turn anybody into putty in my hands._

If there were anybody to be feared in the school, it should be him.

**

By fourth period, it’s pouring.

When the bell finally rings at the end of the day, Taehyun gathers his belongings and quickly walks out to meet up with Kai, making sure to see if the other has an umbrella.

“Thank god I read the weather forecast this morning,” the younger laughs with relief, as the rain becomes even heavier.

“Let’s walk to the gates together- I have some pictures to show you,” he says, looping his arm within the elder’s.

As they walk through the corridors and down the steps, bodies hustled closely together for warmth and Hueningkai talking animatedly, something catches Taehyun’s eye in the distance.

It’s a boy, crouched down near the staircase, holding his arms together as he tries to shake off droplets of water from his hair.

The boy doesn’t seem to have a jacket on, and his tie is loose. His shirt is soaking wet.

_He must've been caught in the rain. Maybe he doesn’t have an umbrella._

Feeling a tug at his arm, he turns his head to see Kai also frowning at the sight.

“Hey, isn’t that the guy from my class? Choi Beomgyu?” he squints, to which Taehyun’s interest peaks.

Choi Beomgyu? As in the delinquent transfer student?

What was he doing out there? 

“Should we go out there and help him?” Taehyun asks carefully, looking back and forth between the two, before he notes a flicker of hesitance cross the younger’s face.

He could tell that Hueningkai was obviously concerned- but it was highly likely that the fear of the boy outweighed any feeling of concern he might have.

Looking at the sensitive, distraught look on the younger’s face, he decides with a sigh that he should take care of the problem himself.

“Ah, maybe not. There’s still a lot of people around- someone else will probably help him,” Taehyun says lightly, patting his arm. At these words, the younger’s troubled expression almost immediately melts away, quickly being replaced by a bright smile.

“Yeah, you’re right!”

As the two finally make it towards the school gates, the topic of conversation already left behind, Taehyun quietly thinks how sensitive the younger is, and how no-one should be able to hurt him. 

So when they finally part ways, he waves goodbye with a smile, and watches quietly as Kai opens up his umbrella. He doesn’t make a move until the other is gone from sight.

Then he turns back.

Even before reaching back to the staircase, he knows that the boy is still there.

It’s clear that the crowd of people has thinned out, the likelihood of any help being offered diminished.

He thinks back to Kai’s good nature and his conflicted expression, and thinks that he should be able to do this much at least, on behalf of the younger. 

When he finally makes his way over to the crouching figure, he steels himself, before he calls out.

“Hey, do you need some help?” 

There's a silence. 

At first he thinks that his words have been lost to the loudness of the rain because there's no response.

But then the boy suddenly turns around, and Taehyun is momentarily startled by the intensity of his expression.

He almost feels rooted to the spot.

The boy's eyes are piercing- a deep red-brown colour as devastatingly mesmerising as they are stone cold. 

His hair, soaking wet, clamps to his forehead, but doesn't make him any less intimidating- only brings out his eyes, his dark brows, and the squareness of his jaw, which sends all of Taehyun's senses on high alert. Every single one of his features are strong and harsh and practically radiate intimidation. 

For one second he can see why his cruel beauty has a reputation.

Then he opens his mouth.

“What’s it to you?” 

Taken off guard slightly, Taehyun blinks for a few seconds. 

What?

With a scoff, the other turns back to wringing out his hair. 

Heart beating wildly, Taehyun tries to think of how to respond. _This guy really needs to pick up some social skills_, he thinks to himself, before shaking his head and trying to press on. No- he needed to see this mission through.

“I was just going to offer you an umbrella,” he says, trying to keep his voice even. The other actually looks up for more than a few seconds this time, clearly startled by this.

He eyes Taehyun’s umbrella carefully, before looking back up at him. After a few seconds pass, he looks down at the floor.

“No thanks,” he says curtly. 

At this, Taehyun frowns. He almost gives up and turns around, before he sees the slight shiver of the other's body, and he stops, expression softening. 

Biting his lip, he quietly lifts his umbrella and walks over to sit down next to the other. 

“You're gonna catch a cold because of that pride, you know?” he says gently. He ignores the water droplets falling from the other’s body, and instead tries to position himself in the most harmless way possible.

Eyes flashing, the other looks up, and Taehyun wonders momentarily if he had gone too far.

But then the hard line of his mouth curls into something more akin to annoyance than anger, and he visibly relaxes.

“How're _you_ gonna get home, then?” the other asks after a beat, clearly meant to be a jab. Taehyun merely cocks his head to the side, unflinching.

“I’m not the one that’s soaking wet and would have more to lose from waiting in the cold,” he replies with a shrug. The other doesn’t say anything back.

He knows he’s won.

Looking out of the corner of his eye, he thinks to himself that this guy was nowhere near as frightening as the rumours made him out to be. Perhaps he had an intense first impression and a semi-abrasive personality, but beneath all of that, he was actually quite docile. 

As long as you didn't push him too far, he didn't push back.

Deliberating for a few seconds, he takes off his blazer. 

“What’re you doing?” the blonde asks, wary at the sight, before Taehyun finally shucks it off.

Then his eyes widen, as Taehyun reaches around the other to wrap the blazer around his shoulders, pulling him close. He almost shrugs the jacket off by instinct, but quickly pulls a hand around it to stop it from falling. 

“If you’re too stubborn to take my umbrella, at least take this,” Taehyun says quietly, holding onto the jacket, breath warm against his cheeks. The boy waits for him to move, but he doesn’t. They're close- much too close for strangers, and yet neither pulls away. Looking up into his eyes, Taehyun notices a difference in colour- they were light. Much lighter than before.

Slowly, but surely, a rosy blush spreads across the blonde's face.

Before he can push him away, Taehyun stands up, and picks up his umbrella. 

“Well, stay warm,” he says, only because of a lack of better things to say, before he opens it and runs off into the distance, water splashing against his legs.

He doesn't turn around- doesn't dare to, because he doesn't even know himself how to react to what he had just done.

It wasn’t much- what he had given the boy, but at least it was something to keep warm in. 

He thinks about Kai, and how he relieved he would have been. Perhaps Taehyun would tell him about it the next time he saw him, to ease his worries.

But when he finally reaches home, it’s not Kai or even the blazer he’s thinking about- it’s those red-brown eyes and the rosy blush spreading like wildfire in his mind.


	2. Chapter 2

It’s useless because later on Taehyun still gets sick, his shirt dampened from the rain.

He hadn’t thought his lack of blazer would have had such bearing on him, but with the sheer force of the rain, he had been battered mercilessly. As hard as he tries to merely pass it off as a minimal matter with a smile to his frowning mother, he’s forced to stay at home. 

He’s miserable.

Leaning his head back against his bedpost, he wonders how Choi Beomgyu is doing, and whether he was cursed enough to get sick too. 

_Serves him right if he is_, he thinks, with a sniffle. Although he had chosen himself to help out the other, a small part of him regrets it, because missing out on a day of class was what he classified as essentially the definition of hell as a straight A student.

“You should’ve taken care of yourself better!” Hueningkai chides him when they meet up the next day for lunch. He can only smile in response. He rubs his arms self-consciously at the lack of blazer, and thinks to himself that it was stupid of him to give away something with no real way of getting it back.

He doesn’t want to confront the boy, or have rumours spread about them if he goes over to ask for it back, but he could really use the warmth again to shelter his sickness.

He wonders if the other even remembers him, or whether his blazer had been discarded into the nearest sewer.

Any alternative was possible after all, with a delinquent type.

With a sigh, he pushes off from his position on the table, and gets to his feet.

"I'm getting a juice. Do you want anything?"

"Grape juice for me, please! And I'll have some of yours too, of course," comes the cheeky reply. With a roll of his eyes, Taehyun ruffles the younger's hair, and grabs his wallet.

As soon as he steps into the empty hallway, the soft expression on his face smooths over into something more complex. 

This was so unlike him, to be bothered so much by someone he barely knew. He shakes his head.

It was probably because he didn't have control over the situation- the product of a sudden whim from the day before.

But it was alright- all he needed was a breather, before he could return to Hueningkai with the same, unaffected smile as always.

Getting out his coins as he presses his fingers into the vending machine, he jumps as a hand touches the small of his back. He turns around, arms raised to defend himself, when he sees the last person he would've expected.

Choi Beomgyu.

He blinks once, then twice, as if trying to work out whether the boy before him was merely a vision, when he sees his hardening expression, and he knows that annoyance wasn't just a figment of his imagination.

“Hey,” the blond says curtly. 

Taehyun lowers his arms, and slowly responds with a nod of his own.

The other looks painfully out of place, standing in front of him with a lowered head and clenched fist, but Taehyun doesn't comment on it. It also doesn't stop him from thinking that the other looked even more striking now that he wasn't soaked in the rain, the light catching onto the sharp angles of his face, and his blond hair falling devastatingly over his eyes.

"Can I help?" he asks, after a beat of silence, and the other's lip curls in distaste.

“Your blazer,” Beomgyu says, holding it out without making eye contact. Taehyun raises an eyebrow.

Oh. 

Had the boy been holding onto it this whole time? 

Taking it carefully, Taehyun nods in gratitude. Noting the faint smell of fabric softener, he looks up in surprise.

"You washed it?" 

"Don't make a deal out of it," comes the other's sharp reply, and Taehyun's mouth snaps shut, before looking to the side.

He doesn’t know what else to say.

"Well...thanks," he gets out finally, raising the blazer. 

But before he can turn to leave, the other boy suddenly calls out to him.

“Ya!”

Taehyun quickly turns around, an eyebrow raised. The blond takes a step forward, eyes flashing. 

“Don’t do something like that for me ever again. I hate owing favours."

Taehyun frowns at this.

But all he does in return is salute him, before walking off.

Whatever. He didn’t really care for whether the other hated him or liked him. 

Sure, he feels a little peeved- the other should’ve at least been more grateful, but he dismisses the feeling.

At least he had his blazer back.

When he finally returns to his classroom with his juice, Hueningkai eyes him with confusion.

“When did you get that blazer?” he asks, looking Taehyun up and down. It was clear that he had brought nothing with him when he went out to purchase the juice, so it was strange that he had returned with a whole other item of clothing.

“Oh, I just lent it to a friend,” he lies easily. It disturbs even himself how quickly Kai buys it. He places the younger's grape juice down on the table, and the other's instantly mollified.

Years of perfecting his lies and being able to calculate his every move had undoubtedly allowed him to move through his high school life with no problems, but sometimes he hated it- the fact that lying was now an automatic response.

Still, he carefully pastes on a kind smile like a mask, and drinks his juice as his only true friend excitedly relays to him his stories.

**

Today, Hueningkai’s late.

Taehyun knows that it’s no cause for worry- the younger was perfectly capable of taking care of himself, but he can’t help but feel suffocated in the classroom without him. 

With a frown, he steps outside of his classroom and picks up his daily juice from the vending machine while he waits.

The younger usually was the one that came to his classroom, always the first to rush in once the lunch time bell rang, but today wasn’t the case.

_Maybe he’s got something on. Or maybe he realised you’re fake and just doesn’t like you anymore_, he thinks.

As he lingers around the vending machine a little longer, he overhears some girls talking, and frowns.

“That Jinkyung’s always trying to pick a fight with the transfer student. Doesn’t he ever get tired?” a girl complains, as she pokes a straw through her drink. 

“Yeah, it’s no reason no-one wants to stay around in that classroom,” her friend responds.

Eyebrows furrowing, Taehyun wonders if that had something to do with Hueningkai’s disappearance.

Maybe the younger had felt too awkward to leave- or maybe from his good nature, he had wanted to stick around as a display of support for the transfer student. Whatever it was, Taehyun decides that maybe it would be good for him to pay the younger’s class a visit.

And maybe to also scope out the situation with Beomgyu, no matter how much the other hated his interferences.

When he finally makes his way over, his eyes widen when he hears shouting.

“You think you’re fucking better than me or something?” there’s a clatter, and Taehyun peeks in to see a red-faced Jinkyung standing over a stony-eyed Beomgyu, who pointedly faces away from him.

Kai only sits a few seats away.

It wasn’t like bullying was non-existent at their school, but it rarely ever manifested in such physical forms- not with so many witnesses around.

But looking around to see whether there could be anyone to stop the situation, it seemed that no-one else wanted to step in, all too afraid of facing the same fate as the transfer student. 

Learning it the hard way, Taehyun knew that if there was anything stronger than good will as a motivator, it was fear.

That was something he hadn’t experienced in a long time.

Considering his options, Taehyun knows that calling a teacher for help might take too long, or alternatively only worsen the situation for Beomgyu, by landing him in trouble.

Although he tells himself he doesn’t care, he thinks back to the boy, hunched over as he tried to wait out the rain.

What did Kai say again?

He was a transfer student. He couldn’t afford to get into trouble.

With that proud and abrasive personality of his, Taehyun knows that the boy most likely wouldn’t appreciate him interfering, so instead he tries another tactic.

He pastes on a smile.

“Jinkyung-ssi!” he calls with a large grin, pushing his way into the classroom. The suddenness of his entrance startles the other briefly.

From his wide eyes, it’s clear that Beomgyu isn’t expecting to see him either.

“I was just looking for you,” he says, ignoring the gaping stares of the other students in the room, and placing a hand on the other’s arm. Looking down at his hand, then back up at his face, Jinkyung backs off, temporarily distracted.

Although he knows it’s kind of evil, Taehyun knows how to use his face to his advantage. He was always the nice one- the friendly one- the guy with the pretty face that everyone liked, though no-one was close enough to really describe in detail.

It was because of this that he was never subjected to bullying, always outside the periphery of abuse, for fear of the unknown. 

Because that was what he was- the unknown.

“What-what do you want?” Jinkyung asks, looking around at his lackeys as if for answers. They only shrug in response, equally as bewildered.

Taehyun steps forward, perfect smile never faltering.

“Can we talk for a bit? I have something to ask you,” he asks sweetly, hands behind his back.

He can see the other’s eyebrows furrowing, taking in the seemingly harmless sight, before frowning more.

“Can this wait? I’m kind of in the middle of something,” he replies, obviously annoyed, although holding back on his words. 

Taehyun considers this for a second, before shaking his head. 

“No, I’m afraid not, actually. It’s kind of urgent…you’ll help me out, won’t you?” he says, eyes wide.

Jinkyung stills for a moment, gauging the situation, before nodding and following him outside, his anger with Beomgyu momentarily forgotten.

Taehyun grins.

_Idiot_, he thinks, internally shaking his head. 

He looks back, and sees that Beomgyu’s hard expression has relaxed slightly, his fists unclenching. Although the other most likely wasn’t happy with Taehyun’s interference, it was clear that the situation had been diffused, at least for the meantime.

He lets out a breath of relief.

**

“How were you not scared? I thought I was going to wet myself!” Hueningkai cries out the next day at lunch, and Taehyun can only laugh in response.

He knew what the other meant- it was completely uncharacteristic of Taehyun to step in, but he didn’t like seeing the blond being so mercilessly picked on when he couldn’t even retaliate.

Even if that blond was a total prick. 

“How I did it doesn’t matter- why didn’t you just leave the classroom if you were so scared?” Taehyun chastises the younger gently, to which the other looks away in shame.

“I was going to leave, honest. But then Jinkyung kicked a chair over and I wanted to be a witness for the teachers in case anything happened,” he responds.

Taehyun sighs.

“What you did was right. But still- I can’t believe no-one else tried to step in or help,” he says, drumming his fingers on the table.

Hueningkai considers these words for a few seconds, before falling uncharacteristically silent.

Taehyun’s senses immediately go into high alert, and he tries to backtrack, but the other stops him with a hand.

“No, you’re right. That’s why I’ve been thinking a lot lately. My class probably has the highest percentage of bullying incidents so I understand what it’s like and I just…I think I need to do something about it,” he says. Taehyun only stares back blankly, confused. 

"I want to run for the student council," he clarifies. 

Taehyun's eyes widen.

The student council? His sweet, sensitive Kai?

“Even if I’m afraid, I want to be in a position where I can report the incidents and treat them with actual authority,” the younger quickly explains, waving his hand about in that nervous way of his.

Taehyun frowns, fingers still against the table's edge, as he takes in the younger's words.

Being a member of the student council was a daunting position full of responsibility- everyone knew that. He had heard about the awful experiences that people went through on the council, and the complex power plays that went on behind the scenes, often resulting in decisions made solely out of spite. 

The Chois weren't infamous for nothing after all- the intense rivalry between the council co-presidents were half the reason that nobody wanted to join. But looking at the determination in Hueningkai's eyes, Taehyun finds that he can't say anything to oppose it.

Because the more he thought about it, the more it made sense.

Hueningkai had always been the more sensitive one, who wanted to help others but never had the power to really do anything.

He was also extremely popular among his cohort, for his fresh and adorable charm- something that always made Taehyun wonder why he chose to hang out with him of all people.

“You’re really growing up, aren’t you?” Taehyun sighs heavily, reaching over to mess up the younger’s hair. He laughs when the other bats him off with a whine. 

“How many times have I told you not to treat me like a baby?” Hueningkai cries, before cracking a smile at Taehyun’s laughter.

Smile bright, Taehyun knows that his support for the younger is genuine.

**

What he doesn’t anticipate, after Hueningkai actually makes it onto the student council, are the meetings that would take the younger away from their daily scheduled lunches.

“I’m so sorry- there was no way to get out of it!” the younger had cried apologetically, before being waved off by the elder.

“It’s really alright, Hyuka,” Taehyun had smiled, although inside it had felt anything but.

It wasn’t like Taehyun was a loser with no friends or anything- it was just that he had never bothered to be close to anyone that wasn’t Kai. The younger had actively sought him out in their first year of high school, and after finding that they lived nearby, it was basically a done deal.

He hadn't really needed anyone else.

But now, sitting alone, he finds it particularly hard to swallow down his food. He isn't really close enough to anyone else to join their group, and doesn't really feel like striking up a conversation out of the blue.

So he just sits, and eats. 

And thinks.

On the third day of eating lunch alone and the countless pitiful stares of his classmates, he decides that he can’t take it anymore. 

He decides to go up to the school rooftop. 

Although it was technically a roped off section of the school, there were no teachers that actively regulated access, and it was something Taehyun needed, after being trapped in that stuffy classroom of his.

He had always wanted to come up, but since Hueningkai was someone who tended to stick by the rules, Taehyun never really had the opportunity to bring it up.

Heaving his bag up onto his shoulders, he makes the long climb up the stairs, and stops in front of the door with a deep sigh.

Finally.

Pushing open the doors, he makes his way over to the netted fence, and takes in a deep breath of air.

“What, are you stalking me now?” a deep voice comes from behind him, greatly startling him.

He jumps, and swiftly turns around, to see Beomgyu’s intense red-brown eyes burning into his own.


	3. Chapter 3

“You!” he blurts out, before stopping himself.

“Me?” Beomgyu replies, raising an eyebrow.

Faltering slightly, Taehyun tries to backtrack, eyes darting back and forth. “You- what’re you doing up here? This place is restricted,” he revises, trying to maintain his dignity. At this, the other shoots him a look of annoyance, lip curling with a nastiness that leaves a bad taste in Taehyun's mouth.

“I could ask you the same question.” 

Eyes hesitant, Taehyun finds himself at an impasse, unsure of how to respond. It was true- it was hypocritical of him to question Beomgyu when he was in a compromising position himself, but it was rare that he ever faced someone this confronting. He only knew how to deflect. 

After a beat passes, the elder finally moves away, putting his hands in his pockets with a scoff.

“Whatever. I don’t care what you have to say anyway. Just piss off already, and stop butting into my business.”

Before the other can stalk away, Taehyun abandons all sense of rationality and stops him in his tracks, eyebrows furrowed.

“Butting into your business?”

As if expecting the response, the blond turns back around, fingers itching for a fight.

“You know what I mean. First the jacket thing, then trying to break up that fight? I barely even know you- I don’t need your pity,” he spits, pushing into Taehyun's chest, tone cruel.

At this, Taehyun steps back with a flinch.

It doesn’t physically hurt, but the message is clear.

His first instinct is to fight back- to tell the other to stop assuming things, if only for the sake of arguing. But when he opens his mouth to speak, he falters, unable to come up with a coherent response.

It's the first time in his life that he's tongue-tied.

_Just say anything, you idiot,_ he thinks to himself, as he stares back into the blond's eyes, desperate to get the last say.

So he says the first thing that comes to mind.

“It wasn’t to help you. I just hate Jinkyung,” he blurts.

There’s a moment of silence.

For a few seconds, Beomgyu stares back at him in genuine surprise, blinking rapidly, before he looks down at the ground.

“Oh,” he says.

“Yeah,” Taehyun replies.

More silence.

They stand there awkwardly for a moment, unsure of how to proceed, before Beomgyu turns away.

_So embarrassing_, Taehyun thinks, mentally berating himself.

Why did he have to say that?

After a few moments pass, Taehyun thinks that that might be the end of it, shoes already digging into the ground in preparation to leave, when Beomgyu suddenly turns back around, startling him.

"You're pretty upfront," he frowns, almost more of a statement to himself than anything else. There's no sign of resentment or disdain anywhere- just bluntness, confusing Taehyun greatly.

He hadn't expected the other to willingly talk to him again after that.

"Is that a problem?" Taehyun asks carefully, trying to feel out the situation.

He thinks he's overstepped his boundaries, ready to quickly retract and deflect, when Beomgyu finally looks away, a humourless smile on his lips.

"'S better than the other kids who talk behind my back, I guess."

With surprise, Taehyun watches as he kicks at the ground, not caring about the scuff mark it leaves on his shoe.

Startlingly, his heart swells.

Before he can open his mouth to respond, the other suddenly cuts him off.

“But y'know, it was a huge pain in the ass trying to find you the other day.”

At this sudden outburst, Taehyun's forehead creases in confusion, his fight or flight instincts at the other's hostile tone forgotten.

"You were trying to find me?"

Almost hesitantly, Beomgyu looks up, a mixture of annoyance and embarrassment flitting across his features, before he responds. 

"To return your blazer. I had to ask around to see where I could find you, but you weren't anywhere."

Thinking back to the previous week's events, and how the other had seemingly waited for Taehyun by the vending machine, Taehyun's eyes widen in sudden understanding. Was that how he had known where to find him?

“Ah, right! Sorry, it was because I got sick,” he replies earnestly, scratching his head.

Of course if it had been up to him, he wouldn't have taken the day off, but he still feels guilty for making the other go to such lengths, given his reputation.

Knowing that the other had asked around for his whereabouts, the sight of the school delinquent demanding for his information must have startled his classmates greatly.

“Sorry,” Beomgyu mumbles quietly, his voice unexpectedly sincere. For a moment, Taehyun's forehead creases in confusion.

It was so unlike the image Taehyun had built up of him in his head, that he almost falters. But with a slight shrug, he breaks into a placating smile instead.

“I mean, it was your fault for helping me, but still...you got sick 'cause of me,” Beomgyu adds quickly, scratching his neck, before looking to the side.

At this, Taehyun's eyes crinkle with a laugh.

“You’re not very good with thanking people, are you?”

Eyes wide in surprise, the blond looks up, ready to retaliate, when he sees the teasing look on Taehyun's face.

"Shut up," is all he manages to mumble. Behind his arm, Taehyun smiles to himself. There's a comfortable moment of silence that passes, before he turns around to grab his bag.

"Well you can make it up to me by helping me eat my lunch. I packed too much today,” he says abruptly, pulling his lunchbox out of his bag.

At this, Beomgyu's eyes widen in alarm, fists almost clenching in a fight or flight mode. For a moment, Taehyun thinks that it's going to end badly- that perhaps he had read the situation wrong, or that he had somehow riled up the other, when he sees him eyeing the lunchbox carefully. He then levels that steely gaze at him.

“It better not suck,” is all he replies with, before promptly sitting down cross-legged on the hard floor.

At this seemingly positive affirmation, Taehyun quickly sits down as well, laying his lunch all out on the cloth that he usually uses to wrap his lunch in.

Ever since middle school, he had always slipped into the habit of preparing his own lunch as a way to lighten the load for his parents, despite their objections. With Hueningkai's seemingly bottomless appetite upon trying his food, his habits seemed to develop into always making extra portions for the younger, which was hard to correct now that he was officially on the student council. He knew he wasn't that great of a cook, having always joked that it was the one thing that he couldn't do, but the younger had never complained so he had never thought too much about it until now. But watching Beomgyu eat his food, he was strangely nervous.

Surprisingly, Beomgyu eats everything without complaint. He hovers particularly around the dakgangjeong and the mini kimbap, which Taehyun notes with a strange sort of pride, despite not having received a single word of praise from the other.

“Your mom make this?” the blond finally asks at one point, when he stops to wipe his mouth.

If it weren't so disgustingly feral, Taehyun would almost think that it was endearing.

He quickly frowns at the thought.

Chewing his lip, he anxiously turns to look at the blond, unsure of how to respond to his question.

“Why, is it good?”

After a moment of consideration, Beomgyu closes his eyes, and folds his arms, as if delivering a verdict. It's amusingly theatrical for someone who was supposed to be a delinquent, but Taehyun found that just in the short time that he knew him alone, the other seemed to be full of surprises.

“'S okay,” Beomgyu says finally, after a few more moments, before picking his chopsticks back up. Heart racing, Taehyun looks down, giddy smile on the edges of his face. Somehow, he forgets about the other's fearsome reputation, because he abandons all to preen instead.

“Well actually, I made it," he says slowly. "So I guess you’re complimenting me instead,” he looks up with a cheeky grin.

At this, Beomgyu's eyes widen almost comically, before he looks away in embarrassment.

“Never mind, I hate it,” he replies darkly, setting aside the food.

But after a few moments of deliberation, he picks it back up again, and quickly shovels the food into his mouth, as if ashamed.

Taehyun grins.

There's a strange lull in their conversation as they continue to eat, heads close together, but somehow it doesn't feel uncomfortable.

There's something about Beomgyu's intense presence that's anchoring, in a way that's entirely different to the chaos of his classroom, or to his time with Hueningkai.

When he looks up after a while, eyes roaming over the blond's soft, tousled hair and the curve of his cheekbone, he startles to hear him finally speak up again.

“Why’re you really hanging out here?” 

The words are blunt. They're not judgemental- merely free of nonsense, but Taehyun still awkwardly smiles down at the ground, scratching the back of his neck.

What was he supposed to say?

“Just needed some air,” he decides to settle on a vague answer, resting his chopsticks against the side of his lunchbox.

He knows that it's wrong, and a blatantly falsified answer, but somehow it's instinctual to him in a way that he wishes it wasn't.

“In a restricted area? Thought you types were a stickler for the rules,” Beomgyu replies, raising his eyebrow.

As quickly as it had come, any form of embarrassment Taehyun had felt earlier is suddenly washed away by his confusion at the new statement.

“What do you mean my types?”

With a shrug, Beomgyu rests a palm against the pavement.

“Y’know…all neat and smart and stuff…a goody two shoes.”

At this, Taehyun almost laughs- not because the thought was so far-fetched, but because this impression people seemed to have of him seemed to spread as far out as a supposed delinquent like the other.

With a grin, he shakes his head. “You’re saying this while eating my food?”

Beomgyu doesn't even bother to look guilty, merely shrugging while shovelling food into his mouth.

With a small smile, Taehyun supposes that maybe it wouldn't be so bad telling the other. As rude as he was, he didn’t seem like the type to spread gossip.

He sighs, brushing the dust off his pants. 

“I guess after my friend joined the student council, I just didn’t have anyone to hang out with...so I came here instead,” he responds. The other stares back at him as if waiting for more information, but is only met with silence, as Taehyun bows his head almost shamefully.

After a moment of consideration, Beomgyu scoffs, leaning back. “That's it? That’s dumb,” he responds. 

At this, Taehyun cracks a smile.

“Oh yeah? Well what’re you doing here then?” he asks, raising an eyebrow.

With a sigh, Beomgyu runs a hand through his hair. 

“That Jinkyung kid’s always on my ass. Had to get away.”

Head tilting slightly to the side, Taehyun furrows his eyebrows. It was strange- the blond had always been painted as the one who instigated the fights rather than the other way around, so the change in image was surprising. But he decides that at this point it was probably better to just form his own judgement instead, and leans in closer. 

“So you’re not really the delinquent they all say you are?” he asks, teasingly.

With an air of annoyance, Beomgyu bats the younger away.

“What? I don’t fuckin’ know…I’m just here to study…everyone else’s just annoying me,” he says, furrowing his eyebrows.

Grin widening, Taehyun leans in further, arms folded. “Oh, so the rumour that you fought six people and won wasn't true?” he asks, turning away in almost exaggerated disappointment. This peaks the other's interest.

“They’re really saying that about me?” Beomgyu asks carefully.

“Yeah, you’re a real enigma apparently,” Taehyun responds, grinning.

At this, Beomgyu makes a face, to which Taehyun lets out a laugh, free of intention. Beomgyu looks down at the ground with a small smile of his own. They both sit in silence, enjoying the warmth of the sun on their skin, and the distant chatter of school students. 

It’s nice.

Suddenly the bell rings, and they both quickly get up on their feet.

“You- you’re not gonna tell anyone I was up here, right?” the blonde asks first, voice gruff.

Taehyun only huffs out a laugh at this, shaking his head so that his bangs fall over his eyes.

It was unexpected that Beomgyu would care about something like that.

“Why, you scared?” he grins.

“Shut up,” Beomgyu replies, not saying much else, before looking away. Quickly leaning down to pack up the remnants of their lunch, he hands Taehyun the container box and wrap, before dusting off his pants.

“You should go ahead first…I have a delinquent reputation to maintain after all,” he says brusquely, shooing the younger off, to which Taehyun giggles.

It was unexpectedly cute of him.

“Alright, alright, I’m going, your highness,” he waves him off. But before he can turn around to leave, the blond suddenly reaches out and touches his arm. His eyes widen.

“Beomgyu,” the blond pipes up suddenly.

“What?” Taehyun asks.

“My name’s Choi Beomgyu,” he restates more firmly, eyes challenging.

At this, Taehyun smiles radiantly.

“Kang Taehyun,” he replies, gesturing at himself, before walking off.

**  
It soon becomes an unspoken ritual for them to hang out on the rooftop during Hueningkai's student council meetings.

Taehyun had been unsure about whether it had just been a one-off thing- thinking that perhaps he had just caught the other on an off-day by chance. But after seeing the elder again when going back up to the rooftop the following day, it starts to become a part of their routine.

It’s quiet, but comforting.

Sometimes they eat together, sharing parts of Taehyun’s meal while making mundane conversation. Sometimes Beomgyu uses the time to study, while Taehyun reads a good book.

They don’t really talk much, but somehow Taehyun feels closer to the other than he does with most of his classmates.

It’s strange.

He still thinks Beomgyu’s somewhat of a mystery- doesn’t know why he’s feared the way he is, or why he acts the way he does, but what he does know is that he’s very different from his first impression of him.

He has an unfiltered mouth, but half of the time he doesn’t mean what he says, his hostility born out of misunderstanding.

It's the source of a lot of his fights, with his stubborn nature keeping him from backing out of them, which Taehyun understands a little bit better than before.

What he doesn’t know, however, is why the elder never seems to bring his own lunch, or why he always stays behind late at school, like the day he did the first time they met.

Taehyun had always assumed it was because of the rain, and his lack of preparation for the weather, but it seemed that staying behind was a regular occurrence for the elder.

Still, Taehyun doesn’t push it.

Just eats, and reads, and quietly enjoys the warmth of the sun with the elder.

After a few weeks, Beomgyu still doesn’t speak much of his own accord, but he’s much more willing to share his space with the younger without too much bite to his words. It’s clear he’s still on guard, but Taehyun finds that he doesn’t mind.

It’s very different from hanging out with Hueningkai, where he’s content just listening to the younger excitedly tell his stories.

It’s a space of silent mutual comfort.

Taehyun kind of likes it.


	4. Chapter 4

It’s entirely by chance that he stumbles upon it- walking home with Hueningkai on their usual route to the school gate, stumbling and laughing as they fall into each other, when he sees a raised fist, and the splatter of blood across the pavement.

He thinks he must be seeing things- that surely there would be some form of intervention despite being the end of the day, but nothing prepares him for the crop of blonde hair, and burning red brown eyes that emerge.

Beomgyu.

It’s an expression Taehyun had never seen from the other before- annoyance, anger, distaste- those were all expressions that he was used to.

But this was different- so vicious that even Taehyun is startled, teeth bared and knuckles bruised and split.

The last words have only barely left Hueningkai’s mouth, when Taehyun’s flying over, heart racing.

He makes it just in time to see the sharp crack of Beomgyu’s fist slamming down on someone’s nose, and he widens his eyes when he recognises the victim to be Jinkyung.

He hears screams- people rushing about as they either try to leave, or try to watch the scene in closer detail, but none stopping to help.

Taehyun’s vision swims as he tries to assess what to do, his usual calm skills of rationalisation abandoning him.

_Come on, think!_

But before he can do anything, another student grabs Beomgyu from behind, tackling him to the ground. 

It all becomes a blur, as more students join in, and they begin to beat him mercilessly.

“Stop!” Taehyun calls, trying to interfere, but it’s lost in the sound of the scuffle.

He watches as Beomgyu’s repeatedly attacked, heart racing, before he takes a deep breath.

He decides to do what he knows best- situational manipulation.

“Scatter! The student council’s coming!” he calls as loudly as possible. The fight breaks up, and suddenly it’s chaos, as everyone tries to run, abandoning all.

It’s not technically a lie- Hueningkai’s standing from afar, mouth gaping, but Taehyun knows that it’s an effective technique regardless.

Despite the teachers having more power, the student council were the ones to be feared, with their ability to make student lives hell through their proposals. 

So Taehyun knew how much weight the words carried.

In the few seconds it takes everyone to disperse, Taehyun rushes over and drags Beomgyu to his feet.

He gasps in pain.

“Come on, you’re coming with me,” Taehyun says, ignoring the sounds of protest and stares as he drags the other to the nurse’s office to get him patched up, leg limping all the way. 

He knows how bad it must look to Hueningkai, but at the moment all he can think of is getting the blond away from the situation at hand.

He’ll tell him about it later.

When he finally hauls Beomgyu into the nurse’s office, the school nurse jumps at the sight of the roughed up, bloody delinquent, and backs up, hand clutched to her chest.

“Are you able to help?” Taehyun asks urgently.

Eyes darting back and forth between the two, she holds out a hand instead.

“Stay back! Who are you two?”

With a sigh, Taehyun aggressively sits Beomgyu down himself, watching as the nurse hurriedly leaves the room, as if aware of the latter’s reputation.

Grabbing some antiseptic and some cotton balls, he leans down to the blond and examines the damage.

“Anything internal I should know about first? Broken bones? Bruising? Swelling?” 

With a grunt, Beomgyu heaves himself upright, and shakes his head.

“Don’t think so. I mean my ribs hurt, but they’ll heal,” he says, wincing, before staring down at the blood on his fingertips.

Taehyun’s eyes hone in on the wound on his face. He immediately snaps to attention. 

Moving about quickly to clean the blood off first, he tries to keep his voice steady. 

“What happened?”

At his matter-of-fact tone, Beomgyu looks up in surprise, before levelling his stone hard eyes at the other, making Taehyun’s skin prickle slightly. 

He scratches the back of his neck.

Startled, the realisation hits Taehyun like a freight truck. The hard stare was just how the other looked when he was concentrating, rather than a display of hostility.

At this new revelation, his heartrate picks up slightly, running through all of the memories he had had of the other, and his supposed unfriendliness.

Oh.

With a slight scrunching of the nose, Beomgyu finally looks back down, tapping his fingers against the edge of his stool.

“It was a three on one fight. That bastard followed me after school and caught me off guard.”

With a frown, Taehyun leans forward.

“That’s unfair.”

“Tell that to them. I mean, I should’ve known it was coming, but still…shit!” the blond winces, as Taehyun uses the distraction to dab at his wounds.

He grits his teeth.

“You sure know your stuff, huh?” Beomgyu asks, as he tries not to move back, fingers gripping at the edge of his seat.

Pausing slightly, Taehyun tries to hide his expression. It was wrong to feel this flattered. 

Then, after a moment of silence, he looks up with a slightly cheeky grin.

“I’m really smart, remember? Goody two shoes and all,” he jerks his head at himself.

“Annoying,” Beomgyu scoffs under his breath, to which Taehyun laughs.

As he sits in the chair, waiting as Taehyun attends to all of his wounds, a sort of calm silence settles between them. 

Taehyun doesn’t typically get distracted- always having laser focus on his tasks at hand, but as he dabs away at the wounds across the other’s face, he can’t help his eyes from glossing over the angle of his nose, and the cast of his eyelashes over his cheek.

It's the lighting, he tries to convince himself.

But they’re close- close enough to feel Beomgyu’s breath on his skin, and the press of his knees against his own, and he doesn’t know how to feel about it.

It’s not something he’s used to.

When he finally finishes patching up the wounds, Beomgyu looks up, almost as if hesitant.

It’s completely different from the usual unfilteredness that Taehyun expects from the other- the brash, unapologetic bluntness of his, and he doesn’t know how to feel, his heart faltering slightly.

With great caution, the blond lifts up a hand to run over his bandages, before he comes to a stop at his temple, staring back at Taehyun with an expression he doesn’t know what to make of. 

“Thanks. You’re always looking after me one way or another,” he says quietly, red-brown eyes soft.

Taehyun doesn’t know how to react.

Before he can say anything in reply, the blond quickly picks up his bag and walks out, leaving Taehyun sitting alone, wearing a piece of his heart on his sleeve. 

**

Things change after that.

Beomgyu doesn’t come to school for a week- Taehyun still eats lunch by himself on the rooftop, eyes closed, feeling the cool breeze on his skin. 

But somehow it’s not the same.

The chatter of school students on the courtyard suddenly seems too loud, the balcony area too empty.

He wonders what had happened to Beomgyu. 

It’s only later, when he finally meets up with Hueningkai, that he finds out the other had been suspended for the incident.

He tries not to react too greatly, his face running through a strange mixture of masked expressions.

“What about Jinkyung?” he asks, almost hesitant to hear the answer.

“He’s being let off with a warning.”

Hueningkai jumps as Taehyun slams his chopsticks against his lunchbox. 

His eyes widen.

“Ah, sorry- I didn’t mean to do that,” Taehyun shakes his head, looking down. 

What was going on? 

He had seen the way the group of students had ganged up on Beomgyu, beating him mercilessly until Taehyun had come along.

So why was he facing suspension instead of them?

Thinking back to the gentle way the blond had looked at him before he had left, his heart aches. 

So it wasn't because of him that he had left.

“I know, it’s unfair. But the board mentioned something about Jinkyung’s parents threatening to file a lawsuit and…things just got messy,” Hueningkai says quietly, eyes sad.

Eyebrows furrowing, Taehyun remembers that Jinkyung had come from a rich family- practically one of the untouchables in the eyes of the elite, and his jaw clenches.

The odds were just too skewed.

With a sigh, Hueningkai sets down his chopsticks.

It wasn’t anything he had ever seen before- Taehyun, his best friend who he thought he had known so well, launching himself into a ruckus like that, entirely unguarded. 

Suddenly full of emotion when he always seemed to have his emotions under control. 

No matter how much he had thought about it, he could never figure out what had happened that day.

Yes, Taehyun had apologised to him almost immediately the next day for leaving him, but that wasn't what he cared about.

What he had worried more about was why Taehyun had intervened like that, and whether he was okay. 

But he doesn’t pry- doesn’t ask why the elder's suddenly so proactive, because it's not in his place to ask.

Just holds onto his best friend's hand, and makes a plan.

**

“Yeonjun-ssi, may I speak to you in private, please?”

It’s with a sort of stiff politeness that Hueningkai asks the question, hands awkwardly folded behind his back as he interrupts the elder’s audience with a large number of girls.

He doesn’t know why he’s here- how he had managed to convince himself to appeal to the other in this way, but he knows it’s something he has to do.

He has to pay Taehyun back somehow.

He knows it’s not something the elder wants to divulge- the way he’s been helping out the blond delinquent from his class lately, but the fact that it was probably done for _him_ makes Hueningkai all the more determined. 

Bowing his head, he looks shyly back up at the boy in front of him, and fidgets slightly. If he didn’t know the other’s position, he would’ve almost laughed at the sight. 

With each arm around a girl, and a lazy smirk donned on his face, it almost seemed like something out of a harem manhwa. 

But eyebrow raised, the elder finally removes his arms, before peering closely down at the younger.

He cocks his head.

“Sorry, who’re you again?”

With a jolt, Hueningkai looks up.

He really didn’t remember?

They had already met nine times before, during the student council meetings over a period of three weeks.

He wonders just how insignificant he was in the grand scheme of the other’s life.

Still, he keeps his stance, and squeezes his eyes shut.

“I’m Hueningkai! The newest member of the student council…sir,” he adds awkwardly, and the girls around the elder snicker to themselves.

God, this was embarrassing.

But strangely enough, Yeonjun doesn’t join in, and instead stares at him with a careful eye.

“Newest member, huh?” he asks, stalking forward.

Hueningkai backs up.

It’s intimidating- the way he looms over him, even if he’s not that much taller, and tilts his head, dark hair falling over his eyes.

Even he can’t help but feel his heart skip a beat.

After a moment of tense silence, the elder suddenly breaks out into a huge grin, and pats him on the back.

“Of course! Welcome, welcome. Anything for our youngest,” he beams, before pulling him in.

Hueningkai stumbles, grabbing onto his arm with wide eyes.

In agreement, the girls around him smile and clap in approval, as if they hadn’t laughed at him only seconds before. 

He gulps.

So this was why people were intimidated by him- the notoriously wild co-president of the student council, with a cult-like following.

He had only heard stories about him- even laughed once or twice in disbelief, but now that he was actually in that position, he was a lot more terrified than he had thought possible.

He would hate to see what it would be like to be on the receiving end of his anger.

“So…what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?” Yeonjun asks, smiling dangerously, and Hueningkai nervously looks about.

The girls stare back at him, waiting. 

“It would be good if we talked alone,” he replies.

“Alone? What for?” Yeonjun laughs, and the girls around him laugh with him.

Frustrated, Hueningkai focuses his eyes on the other, hoping that his message was being sent across properly.

Suddenly, understanding dawns on the elder's face.

“Oh, I see what this is about,” Yeonjun nods, before waving his hands to dismiss their audience.

With groans of disappointment, the girls disperse, leaving just the two of them standing in the corridor. The elder leans in.

“You want to talk about something you don’t want Soobin-ssi finding out about, is that right?” he asks, grinning.

Hueningkai stares pointedly at him back.

“Right, right, I won’t ask. But just know that I’m with you on anything that he opposes,” he grins, to which Hueningkai nods back in reply.

He was counting on that.

Despite having only spent three weeks in the student council, he could tell what the dynamics were like.

Of course, he had already heard about the infamous rivalry between the two co-presidents, but it was much more intense in person.

The two couldn’t be more different- Yeonjun being the wild, confident playboy, and Soobin being the stern, studious stickler for the rules. But when it came to passion and stubbornness, they were innate rivals.

While Yeonjun had the benefit of the popular vote among the students, Soobin had the vote among the higher-ups, including the teachers.

So the student body began to morph into something much more intense than it had set out to be.

Although Hueningkai hadn’t directly interacted with either of them, he felt like he needed to do this- that they were the right people to see about his issue.

The bullying in his class had escalated to a point that needed intervention.

Taehyun had saved that blond delinquent, Beomgyu, that one time during the lunch break, but there were a lot more things that happened behind the scenes that he didn’t see.

The threats, the conspiring, the pay-offs…there was much more than just the violence.

And after the recent events of the fight between Beomgyu and Jinkyung, Hueningkai felt that something needed to be said. Even more so now that they were considering expulsion too.

Of course something as grave as expulsion didn’t usually go through student council review, but here, the considerations were given more weight if consulted with the council first, as to their opinions of the situation.

At the previous meeting, it hadn’t seemed like either party cared- like Beomgyu was just some insignificant nuisance to be swept under the carpet. 

But Hueningkai wanted to say something about it- the way transfer students were treated, and moreso Beomgyu in particular, with his challenging eyes and rough accent that left room for misunderstanding.

Taehyun’s strange protection and watchfulness over the other only pushed him even further. 

Hueningkai doesn’t know what their relationship is- knows that Taehyun’s one to keep to himself, but he wants to protect these passionate feelings of the elder that he doesn’t get to see often.

He wants to help out too. 

Even if he’s scared half to death by Beomgyu.

It wasn’t that he favoured Yeonjun over Soobin or anything- it was just that he seemed more easily persuaded, having a notorious reputation for being a little too carefree, and Hueningkai needed to use it to his advantage.

So Yeonjun it was.

But it was only a matter of time before he had Soobin wrapped around his finger too. 

“I just wanted to talk about Choi Beomgyu from class 2.”

“Who?” Yeonjun asks, frowning.

“The one who was suspended for fighting the other day?” Hueningkai replies, hesitant. 

When Yeonjun still looks confused, Hueningkai changes his stance.

“The one who broke Jinkyung-ssi’s nose.”

“Ah, yes!” Yeonjun says, snapping his fingers. 

Being from a prominent family, it would be a given that Yeonjun would care more about someone like Jinkyung than Beomgyu. 

“What about him?” 

With a gulp, Hueningkai pushes forward.

“I want to appeal for lenience regarding his potential expulsion. I know that the meeting discussing this issue is already over, but there was no consideration about his circumstances, or Jinkyung's involvement in the fight,” Hueningkai says.

Watching him with a careful eye, Yeonjun curls his lip.

“I don’t think you should be getting yourself involved in these matters, little one. If you want to challenge Jinkyung, you’re gonna land yourself in a lot of hot water,” he says, eyes hardening.

Hueningkai knows it’s his cue to tremble- to back away to stop things from going south, but he knows it’s something that needs to be done.

He had already gone through his whole life being protected by others.

“Isn’t this a matter of justice?” he presses.

Swallowing, he steps forward.

“I didn’t want to see Soobin-ssi about this because I was afraid he would politicise the process. But you’re more about justice and the people, aren’t you?” Hueningkai asks, chewing his lip.

He knows that it’s an unfair point to make- knows that if anything, Soobin is the one that cares more about the rules, but he needs to do whatever it takes to convince the other. 

Fingers twitching, Yeonjun quickly rises to his full height.

Bingo.

“Why of course! I’ll do anything to help the people. I’ll see what I can do about bringing it up with the board,” he says, nodding his head.

With a grateful smile, Hueningkai shakes his hand, and bows.

Hesitating slightly, he decides to throw in one last attack.

“Thank you~” he says with aegyo, to which the elder laughs, eyes crinkling.

“Of course, maknae.”

Checkmate.

**

Somewhere else, Beomgyu sits in silence, knees huddled up to his chest and a bruise on his cheek.

He looks up at the sky, and sticks out a hand to catch the falling raindrops.

He doesn't care about expulsion- had already had a lifetime of them, but he remembers the promise he had made to his mother.

Then imagines a kind smile and the scent of a freshly washed blazer.

He sighs.


	5. Chapter 5

It’s a slow day.

Taehyun sits cross-legged at home around a low table, preparing for the upcoming exam, while Hueningkai plays on his gameboy behind an exercise book.

Pouring over his notes, he finds that for the first time in his life, he hits a mental wall. 

That damn Choi Beomgyu.

He wasn’t going to lie and say that the sight of the other all bloody and feral that day didn’t alarm him in the slightest. Even if he had been overtaken in the end, the look in his eyes had set off all of the alarm signals in Taehyun’s head- like he was capable of much more than he was letting on.

But then the events at the nurse’s office had happened and-- he doesn’t know what to think anymore.

There was something about Beomgyu that had been different- he had treated Taehyun with a sense of hyper-awareness and sensitivity, as if wanting to be more receptive, but not being sure of how. 

Like he was baring some part of his soul with him. 

Taehyun quickly shakes his head.

What was he thinking?

“You’re not still thinking about Choi Beomgyu, are you?”

Mouth snapping shut, Taehyun looks up in surprise, eyes widening.

“What?”

A silence passes.

Eyebrows raised, Hueningkai stares back at him. He had never seen Taehyun react like that before.

He was always so maddeningly composed, never showing signs of being affected by anything, but here he was, looking like a child caught sticking his hand in a cookie jar. 

Smiling slowly, Hueningkai points at the elder.

“So you _ are_ thinking about him!”

Panicking at the younger’s increasing volume, Taehyun suddenly pulls Hueningkai’s arm down, before looking around.

“What is this, a gossiping session?” he asks. When the other doesn't back down, he launches forward to subdue him with his strength. 

Hueningkai doesn’t know why he’s fighting it so hard- usually the elder would just brush it off as nothing, or silence him with one of his flat stares, but it seemed that he was slipping up, all defensive and flustered.

He wonders what it is about Beomgyu that makes Taehyun react in that way. 

He had heard all of the horror stories of the blond delinquent, with his quick temper and violent nature. After witnessing the bloody battle from the other day before his very eyes- Jinkyung being the unfortunate victim, he didn't doubt them in the least, although he had known the fight was unfair to begin with. 

He also remembers the time he had tried to talk to the other the day after seeing him in the rain, where the other had stared him down, harsh words falling out of his mouth, of “what do you want?”. 

That was, of course, until Jinkyung came by and the situation had escalated into something much worse.

Needless to say, Hueningkai doesn't know if he wants Taehyun hanging out with the elder.

Taehyun had always been picky about the sort of people he surrounded himself with. He also knew Taehyun didn't like to associate himself with trouble, always placing himself carefully just on the border of everyone's periphery. 

So what exactly was he doing with Choi Beomgyu?

Before he can say anything, there’s suddenly a knock at the door, and Taehyun lets go, sitting bolt upright. 

From behind the door, Taehyun’s mother appears, holding a tray of cookies. 

At the sight, Hueningkai quickly gets up in excitement, abandoning Taehyun, before knocking his knees against the table.

“Ouch!” he yelps, hobbling to the ground.

“Didn’t know you were so excited to see me,” Taehyun’s mother jokes light-heartedly, before checking to see if the younger is okay.

Closing his eyes in embarrassment, Taehyun sets down his pen, tabbing his place in his notes, and slowly turns around. 

“So what’ve you boys been up to?” his mother asks as Hueningkai attacks the cookie tray.

Taehyun briefly considers making up something ludicrous, when he remembers no-one would buy it. So he offers a half-hearted shrug instead. 

“Not much. Just studying,” he replies, to which she purses her lips.

He knows that look.

“You know, as much as I appreciate your diligence, you should really get out more. You’re in the prime of your youth! Go have fun,” she clucks disapprovingly, as Hueningkai pumps a fist in the air in agreement. 

“Yeah! Most kids our age would die to have a mother this lenient," he pleads.

Ignoring them both, Taehyun turns back to his studies, expression flat.

After a few rounds of exchange between Hueningkai and Taehyun's mother, trading news about daily gossip and Kai's student council position, his mother finally walks over and stoops down over her son.

“Aren’t you going to have a cookie?” she asks with a teasing smile, to which Taehyun shakes his head politely. 

“That’s so like you,” she laughs, brushing a hand softly through his hair. She then levels a kind smile at Hueningkai.

“Thank god we have you to keep my recluse of a son company.” 

“It’s my pleasure, Mrs Kang,” Hueningkai bows graciously from his position on the floor, to which she stifles a laugh. Quickly picking up the half empty tray, she turns around and closes the door shut.

After a moment of silence, Taehyun turns to the younger and raises an eyebrow.

“Ever the mother-charmer, I see,” he remarks.

“Lay off it. Your mom’s cool,” the younger huffs, pushing him playfully. Taehyun shrugs in admission. 

But before he can go back to studying, Hueningkai suddenly speaks up.

“So Choi Beomgyu, huh?”

“Do your work!”

**

He knows in theory he should probably listen to Hueningkai's warnings to stay away from Beomgyu.

It hadn't come as a surprise to him when he was cornered the next day, interrogated by the younger in that sweet, almost pitiful way of his about their relationship. He knows that Hueningkai had wanted to help out the elder, and that he was privy to all of the injustices that occurred daily in their classroom- but that surely had limits.

He probably wasn't expecting Taehyun to hang out with Beomgyu almost every available lunch break, and share food with him in a restricted area of the school. 

He doesn't know which part of that sentence would give Hueningkai a heart attack first.

Breaking onto the rooftop would no doubt get him suspended at the very least, although nothing as drastic as the process Beomgyu was supposedly going through now. Hanging out with said delinquent would no doubt further put him on the watchful radar of the stringent student council presidents.

Then finally there was the issue of him hanging out with someone Hueningkai feared so much. He knows he shouldn't do it.

He doesn't even know why he does, waiting every day for the elder's return as if they were anything more than acquaintances.

But he decides to keep it a secret regardless. 

***

The first thing Taehyun notices when Beomgyu arrives, is the yellowing bruise on his cheek, that he knows isn’t from the fight the week before. 

He immediately sits up, a million questions buzzing through his mind.

_You’re back,_ he thinks, slightly breathless.

But he doesn’t say a word- just waits for the elder to sit down, and pushes his lunchbox forward. 

Beomgyu stares at it for a second, clearly hesitating, before lowering his head slightly in acknowledgement.

He lets out a breath he doesn’t know he was holding. 

“You still come here?” comes the quiet scratch of Beomgyu’s voice when the silence finally starts to become unbearable, and Taehyun looks up in surprise.

“Yeah,” he huffs out, slightly higher toned than he had intended.

He winces.

Trying to make up for it, he quickly delivers another line. “I notice you haven’t recently, though,” he says neutrally, trying to turn the conversation around. 

He knows that he shouldn’t expect much from the other- probably a lack of response, or an annoyed dismissal if he was lucky, but he doesn’t expect the other to look at him head on.

It’s a deeply troubled look that he doesn’t know what to make of.

Then as quickly as it had come, it disappears, as Beomgyu looks away, shovelling more rice into his mouth.

“I was suspended. You probably know that,” he says lowly, avoiding eye contact.

It’s clipped, and abrupt, and reminds Taehyun cuttingly of the time he had first met him. He tries to make sense of the situation. 

“Yeah…I suppose I do. What keeps you coming back though?” Taehyun asks carefully, trying to lift the mood, before the other stares back at him with a mixture of disbelief and amusement.

“If you’re asking me why I’m not avoiding you, it’s 'cause I don’t completely hate you, alright?” 

Surprised, Taehyun looks up, to see the other quickly looking away.

He levels a crooked smile at him.

“Completely? High praise,” he replies.

“Don’t push it.” 

After another moment of silence, Taehyun looks back up at the elder, and sees the troubled look back on his face, marring his face with fatigue.

He knows he needs to say something.

“And what about the bruise? It wasn’t from the fight, was it?”

Beomgyu looks up, surprise flitting briefly across his features, before they turn defensive.

The line of his mouth hardens, before he sees the look on Taehyun’s face, and knows his anger is misdirected.

He sets his chopsticks down.

“Yeah. Nothing gets by you, huh?”

“You don’t have to tell me anything,” Taehyun says quickly.

“My dad didn’t take the suspension news well,” Beomgyu replies, taking a deep breath.

Taehyun stares back, still.

Beomgyu never talked about his family. He always avoided any questions about his personal life, deflecting questions like it was second nature to him- so he wonders why the other had suddenly entrusted the information to him. Taehyun had very easily offered him a way out, but the other had still chosen to tell him.

But now he’s starting to understand- the way Beomgyu always seemed to stay behind at school, and spat out every word like a defence. 

He was trying to run away from it all.

Hesitantly, he inches forward.

“Do…do you want to talk about it?” Taehyun asks, the words sounding foreign even from his own mouth. He’s not good at this- had never really been good with people, but he doesn’t know what else to do.

His fingers clench tightly in his palm.

“Not really, no,” Beomgyu says, staring fixedly at the ground, but it’s not harsh.

Taehyun’s mouth quirks slightly in relief.

“Okay,” he responds.

“Okay,” Beomgyu mirrors back, smiling softly.

They stare at each other for a while, before Beomgyu quirks his head to the left.

“You’re not very good at talking to people either, are you?” he asks, making Taehyun laugh.

Had he been that transparent?

“Not particularly, no.” 

“Well good,” Beomgyu replies, leaning back. “I don’t wanna say anything for a while,” 

Taehyun shrugs, closing his eyes.

“Well if you need some consolation, you can lie on my lap if you want,” he offers, half-joking. 

But he’s startled when the blond actually does it without a word, head resting in the centre of his lap, fingers curled against his legs. 

Taehyun’s hands hover awkwardly over him, heart racing, and he finds that he doesn’t know what to do.

He can’t see the other’s expression either, but knows that it’s probably something he doesn’t want him to see.

Hesitantly, he runs his fingers through Beomgyu’s hair, as if testing out the waters.

The other doesn’t comment, so neither does he. 

They sit that way for the rest of lunch.

**

Their relationship strangely begins to blossom from there. 

It’s by no means perfect, nor consistent in progression, but Taehyun finds himself learning a little more about the infamous delinquent every day. 

He finds that he’s smart- much smarter than most of the other so-called academics in class one, but his attitude and lack of willingness to compromise with teachers and fellow students cost him much more than it should have.

He finds out more about his family life as well, though he doesn’t try to push it. He’s an only child, with an absent father, though he doesn’t say much more than that.

Beomgyu's hogging of Taehyun’s lap has become somewhat of a routine though, after they finish their lunches and lazy exchanges underneath the warm sun.

Taehyun, for all his hatred of touching from people he’s not close with, oddly doesn’t mind it- just uses the opportunity to flick the elder's forehead with a childish snicker, and earn a shove in return.

Beomgyu eventually begins to return the favour in kind.

After a particularly rough night of studying, exhaustion weighing heavily in the bags under his eyes, Taehyun experiences it for the first time.

‘You don’t have to run yourself into the ground, you know?” comes Beomgyu’s dry tone, and he can’t help but sigh.

“I'm not, I just couldn't sleep,” Taehyun smiles tiredly in return, hastily rubbing one eye. 

Wrinkling his nose, Beomgyu gives him a look of distaste. 

“Liar,” he replies. Taehyun can't even find it within himself to object, so he shrugs instead.

Unexpectedly, the elder pushes his food to the side, and gestures at his legs.

“Come lie in my lap. I’ve abused yours one too many times,” he says flatly.

Eyes widening, Taehyun considers the proposition for a minute. Then, with a grin, he scoots over, and plants himself in the other’s lap.

It’s strange.

It’s the first time he’s ever directly looked up at the sky like this. It’s a brilliant blue, not a single cloud in sight, and the sun feels warm on his skin.

He can feel the softness of Beomgyu’s shirt, and the smell of fabric softener and pine, and if he looks higher, see the soft slopes of his cheeks, and the lashes fanning over his red-brown eyes.

His heart inexplicably does a turn.

He closes his eyes and pretends to sleep. 

Beomgyu doesn't make a sound, surprisingly- doesn't even fidget. But somewhere down the line, as Taehyun finally finds himself relaxing, he feels a dark shape over his face and instinctively knows it’s a finger.

Smiling slightly, he suddenly lunges out, trying to bite it, and Beomgyu yelps, quickly retracting it.

Taehyun laughs at the sound, sitting up, before Beomgyu has the sense to gather himself from his embarrassment and join in begrudgingly, shoving at the younger with enough force to warrant a sequence of roughhousing.

From there on they laugh and play for the period of the lunch break, until Taehyun hears the sound of something dropping. 

Like a deer caught in the headlights, he looks up and freezes.

He had known there was a chance of someone coming to the rooftop and catching them, but he had never really thought it would happen for real.

Heart pounding, he watches as Hueningkai stands at the entrance of the rooftop door, sunlight catching onto the gold of his student council badge, expression unreadable. 


	6. Chapter 6

Hueningkai was a simple kid, difficult to upset and easy to mollify.

Taehyun had always chided him about it, saying that it made it easier for people to take advantage of him. He had only laughed in reply, saying that it was alright- he _wanted_ to help people out. 

But looking at the sight of his best friend laughing and playing around with the very person he had warned him to stay away from, and in a restricted part of the school no less, he feels something very complicated.

He had been supposed to attend a student council meeting that day, when it had been cancelled at the last minute. Instead, the members had been allocated different duties to perform, after which they were free to enjoy the rest of their lunch break.

Smiling ear to ear, Hueningkai had skipped over to Taehyun’s classroom to let him know the news. He had then seen the empty seat, devoid of any personal possessions like the elder usually left around when he ate in the classroom. Confused, he had waited around for a while, only to be met with radio silence. 

It was the strangest scenario.

After finally giving up and asking around the class as to the other’s whereabouts, he had been surprised to hear that the other had left, and had in fact, been leaving consistently every lunchtime when Kai wasn’t around. 

He hadn’t known what to think.

He doesn't really remember the next few events exactly either, if he's honest with himself.

But in a daze, he had decided to let it go, determining to seek the other at the end of the school day to ask about it further. He had then walked off to carry out his delegated task- something about properly sectioning off the school rooftops, when he noticed the door handle leading up the stairs was crooked.

That was when he noticed something was very wrong.

“What’re you doing here?” Kai asks, voice still.

There’s no response.

“I asked, what are you both doing here?” he repeats.

Looking at Beomgyu, then back at the younger, Taehyun slowly gets to his feet. 

“It’s not what it looks like,” he says, hands out as if trying to approach a wounded animal. At this, Hueningkai’s face twists into something even more accusatory, fists clenching.

“You’re doing exactly what I told you not to do,” he responds, words harsh.

Taehyun visibly flinches.

“What, are you two friends? Have you been laughing at me behind my back? Knowing that I’m part of the student council and still doing these kinds of activities?” the younger pushes further.

A look of alarm flitters across Taehyun’s expression.

Quickly walking forward, he grabs the other’s arm.

“Of course not! We just happened—“

“I don’t want to hear it,” Hueningkai replies, shaking his arm off. Looking down at the elder, he drops his stern expression into something more hurt, and he can see a flicker of emotion cross Taehyun’s face.

“I trusted you.”

Stiffly, he turns around, swinging the door shut with a slam behind him.

Standing in the semi-darkness, he waits for a couple of seconds to compose himself.

He takes a breath.

Then he returns back, startling the two.

“So? What did you guys think of my performance?” he grins, putting a finger to his cheek.

Eyes wide, Taehyun stares back at him, gaping.

He tries to open his mouth, but no sound comes out.

“What, did you fall for it? Did you really think I was mad?” Hueningkai asks, snickering behind a hand.

Understanding finally dawning upon the elder’s features, Hueningkai hops out of the way just in time to avoid a pummelling fist upon his chest.

“Ya! You scared me!” Taehyun says, running after him, as the younger shrieks in laughter.

“What, so all of that was just a show?” Beomgyu asks, with a frown.

Then, after a pause, he levels that judgemental look at Taehyun instead.

“How did you not figure that out?”

“Because he's never done something to me like this before!” the younger complains, hands on his hips.

“I was saving my skills for a special occasion,” Hueningkai winks, blowing a small kiss. Then, his expression slips into something a little more serious.

“I really wasn’t expecting you guys to be up here, though. I was just doing my student council duties when I saw you. You do know that the potential consequence is suspension, right?” he frowns at his friend.

Mouth snapping shut, Taehyun’s expression softens into something more apologetic.

“I do. I’m sorry, Hyuka,” he replies, biting his lip. 

A moment of silence passes.

“He just couldn’t resist me,” Beomgyu suddenly pipes up, tone dry.

At this, Taehyun lets out a sound of alarm. He whips back, to which the blond only gives him a challenging look in return. 

"Ya!"

As the two suddenly break out into a fight, arguing heatedly back and forth, Hueningkai can’t help but look on with a smile, even if he still feels on edge around the alleged delinquent.

Hesitantly, he inches forward.

“I-I’m Hueningkai, by the way,” he says, extending a shaky hand. 

Looking at this with a raised eyebrow, Beomgyu stops his squabbling with Taehyun, and cocks his head.

Hueningkai gulps.

“I know. You’re in my class, right?” he asks.

Surprised, Hueningkai drops his hand.

“You remember me?”

“Why wouldn’t I? You approached me so weirdly out of the blue that one time,” Beomgyu frowns.

In alarm, Hueningkai backs off.

What?

The blond had really remembered him for that? For an incident so small? 

Eyes fearful, Hueningkai sends a look of distress to Taehyun- but the other only stares back at him, expression confusingly amused.

“I-I’m so sorry for bothering you!” he launches into a bow, eyes squeezing shut; he was really in for it now.

Knees shaking, he waits for his fate, counting down the numbers to his execution.

There’s a moment of silence, before he hears a giggle. 

Surprised, he looks up to see Taehyun covering his mouth with his hand.

“Huening-ah, get up. He’s not going to bite,” the elder says gently.

Warily, he turns to the blond for confirmation, who only looks back at him with a frown.

“Why would I bite you? You just gave me a weird impression and I asked what you wanted.”

Eyes wide, Hueningkai stares back at him. 

“You didn't hate me?”

Eyebrows shooting off of his forehead, Beomgyu looks to Taehyun as if seeking an explanation.

“You do have a tendency to come across as brash and hateful,” Taehyun says with a grin. 

At this, Beomgyu lets loose a snarl, although it doesn’t seem to be fuelled by any sort of legitimate hatred.

“I’m the nicest guy in this school, fuck you.”

“Case in point,” Taehyun bows. 

As they continue to squabble, Hueningkai places a hand over his racing heart.

The whole time he had thought the other was something else entirely- a delinquent that beat people up as soon as they bothered him, or said something out of turn. Not someone who merely possessed a bluntness that tended to come across as rude. 

He doesn’t know what he was expecting, but it was certainly not this.

“You guys have been hanging out here regularly, right?” Hueningkai asks, after the arguing finally dies down.

At this, Beomgyu’s mouth snaps shut, and he stares into the distance, almost sheepish. He lets Taehyun answer for the both of them.

“It was just for a short time- since you were gone with your student council meetings,” Taehyun waves, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“But what’re you guys gonna do now that they’re sectioning off the school rooftop with regular check ups?” Hueningkai asks, folding his arms.

There’s a silence.

“They’re what?” Taehyun asks, eyes wide.

“Yeah, they’re gonna start implementing the process a week from now. I’m supposed to be sectioning it off right now, actually.” 

Turning back to Beomgyu, Taehyun exchanges with him some kind of look that Hueningkai doesn’t quite understand. 

“I’ll come back to the classroom, of course,” Taehyun says, words careful. 

Hueningkai notices Beomgyu visibly stiffen in response, but doesn’t say anything about it.

“I’ll think about it when the time comes,” the blond replies with a non-committed shrug, after which he looks Hueningkai up and down.

“You’re not gonna report us, are you?” he asks, eyes suddenly turning steely.

Waving his hands about in alarm, Hueningkai shakes his head.

“No, that’s not what I joined the council to do,” he replies, biting his lip.

After a moment of staring, Beomgyu finally backs off, rolling his neck.

“You’re not bad,” he responds, eyes soft, before patting him on the shoulder.

Slowly, watching as Beomgyu walks off, running one hand through his hair, Hueningkai starts to see why Taehyun likes him so much.

**

“No.”

It’s with a certain type of bluntness that the dark-haired boy responds, all clipped and curt, and Hueningkai can’t help but feel his face fall. 

He should’ve known it wasn’t going to be this easy.

He had finally been able to track down the elusive student council co-president, but it had taken him much longer than he had anticipated. There were no loud trails of girls to follow, or flashy scenes by the other- he was virtually a ghost.

And now that he was finally in his presence, it seemed that he didn’t know what to do.

Pushing up his glasses, Choi Soobin doesn’t spare Hueningkai even a second glance, moving past him, taking fast, long strides with a book tucked under his arm.

“Wait!” Hueningkai calls, as he stumbles after the other, but the other doesn’t slow down.

Only when he finally outpaces the elder and stands directly in front of him, arms spread out, does he stop.

Eyebrow raised, Soobin stares down at him.

It’s an entirely different feeling of intimidation than that from Yeonjun, where it felt like he was going to be eaten up at any moment.

With Soobin, it felt like he was going to be crushed underfoot.

“Did I not express myself loud and clear?” Soobin says sharply, enunciating every syllable.

“But—“

“I don’t care about anything to do with Yeonjun. If we were all as carefree and weak-minded as him, the entire student council would fall apart,” Soobin frowns, stepping forward.

Gulping, Hueningkai takes a step back.

He had tried to use the same tricks he had used on Yeonjun- flattery, guilt, revenge. But unfortunately it seemed that Soobin was much less gullible or susceptible to influence than the other. 

Which only made things a hundred times more intimidating.

Swallowing, he watches as the elder stares him down, his presence domineering. 

“The school needs to set an example- I can’t just grant lenience arbitrarily. You of all people should know that, as a member of the student council.”

At the accusatory words, Hueningkai’s face flushes pink. The cut stings much worse when he remembers his supposed duties.

“Now if you’ll excuse me,” Soobin pushes past him. 

Panicking, Hueningkai throws out his last resort.

“Kang Taehyun!” he yells.

Soobin suddenly stops in his tracks.

“Kang Taehyun…do you know him?” he asks.

Eyebrow raised, Soobin looks over his shoulder.

“Third rank of class one, isn’t he?”

Hueningkai knew it- academics would definitely draw the other in.

“Yes! He’s my best friend…and he’s currently tutoring Choi Beomgyu,”

Eyebrows raising in surprise, Soobin fully turns around.

“Is that so? Why are you telling me this?”

Quickly latching onto the situation, Hueningkai steps forward.

“Because there’s a large chance of reformation there. If- if you approve Beomgyu’s stay, we’ll attribute any improvements in his character and academics to you. We’ll even say that you arranged the tutoring,” Hueningkai nods eagerly.

He can see the cogs in Soobin’s head spinning. 

“What about Jinkyung’s family?” he asks.

“Since Taehyun has control over Beomgyu, he can make him formally apologise. I know he’s been difficult so far, but it would probably help ease the tension between the families,” Hueningkai offers. At the look of doubt on the other’s face, he quickly builds off from his statement.

“Plus, they’re probably only concerned over their son not getting a mark on his record, rather than Beomgyu getting expelled. I think suspension is a satisfactory enough punishment.”

In consideration, Soobin purses his lips for a few seconds, before he steps forward.

“Fine. I’ll give it a try. But if anything goes wrong, just know that it’s not just me you’ll have to answer to,” Soobin replies icily, before stalking off.

**

In the background, unbeknownst to either party, Jinkyung cocks his head, taking in the sight of the young student council member.

He commits his face to memory.


	7. Chapter 7

He exhales slowly, taking his lip in between his teeth.

It’s not the first time Taehyun’s been at a loss what to do.

It’s by no means a common occurrence- he had always been someone with laser like focus, and a number of backup plans buzzing through his mind all at once.

But he would be lying if he said he hadn’t been particularly prone to it these past few days. 

In fact, it seemed that he had experienced a lot of new feelings nowadays, all of them somehow related to Beomgyu- as if he had left a human sized hole in Taehyun’s heart that could never really disappear, no matter how hard he tried to fill it up.

As he sits on his bedroom floor, shuffling through his notes, he can’t help but think about the conversation he had had with the other the previous day.

He wonders about where he stands with Beomgyu, knowing that the school rooftop would be sectioned off by next week.

Hueningkai's news had come as a shock to both of them.

They had never really discussed what would happen if they could no longer meet each other- because it hadn’t seemed like something they would worry about in the foreseeable future.

It hadn’t even occurred to Taehyun that he wouldn’t be seeing Beomgyu every week from now on, preparing him an extra portion of lunch, and brushing his fingers calmly through the other’s hair as he curled up in his lap.

It had seemed so ingrained into his routine.

But now, without the rooftop, they would have no reason to hang out- no reason to actively seek each other. It had only been a meeting spot of convenience, turned into something slightly more.

He didn’t know if the other would even agree to seeing him at all outside of that setting, when they no longer had an excuse to be around each other- let alone anywhere visible within the school, where other students could see them.

Were they friends?

Did Beomgyu even think of him that way?

At the onslaught of tumultuous thoughts, Taehyun falls back on the floor, pencil rolling from his hand.

One more week to go.

He resolves not to bring it up with Beomgyu until it’s over. 

**  
Hueningkai doesn’t know what it is that brings it on, but somehow Yeonjun begins to stick to him like glue.

It’s always whenever Taehyun isn’t around- during break times at council meetings, when performing school duties, on the way to bathroom. His head spins at the constant intensive energy of the other.

Still, it’s nice to have an older friend who actively dotes on him for once. Even if he misses Taehyun and his quiet encouragement.

It’s this smothering, in fact, that makes him so busy that he’s barely able to pay attention to his surroundings.

It almost makes him miss the sharp thumbtacks glued inside his locker.

Snatching his hand back quickly, he blinks a few times to make sure of what he’s seeing, heart racing.

What on earth?

He had only seen this type of thing in dramas.

Frowning, his blood runs cold as he sees a note placed on the inside of the door.

Looking around to see if the culprit was still nearby, his eyebrows furrow as he only sees a number of students talking and laughing to each other, paying him no attention whatsoever.

Slowly, he pulls the note down, and turns it over.

The words only read ‘Watch Your Back’, written in red ink.

It's smudged down just enough to make a blurry smiley face.

His mouth clamps shut.

Before he can do anything, a hand grabs the back of his shirt, and he jumps, falling back against the lockers.

He makes a sound of terror, arms raising up, when he sees the wide eyes of Yeonjun in front of him, holding a box of grape juice.

The note flutters down to the ground.

“Yeonjun hyung?” Kai asks, heart racing.

At the words, Yeonjun immediately steps closer, concerned.

“What happened to you? Are you okay?” he asks, expression serious for once.

A silence passes.

Trying to subdue his shaking, Hueningkai takes a moment to count to himself, before looking up with a hesitant smile.

“I’m all good, Yeonjun hyung! You just startled me there for a moment,” he nods.

He hopes the other doesn’t notice his shaky arms. If he does, he doesn’t let on.

“You dropped something,” is all he says, before reaching down to pick up the note. Hueningkai tries to stop him, but by that point it’s already too late.

“What’s this?”

Heart racing, Hueningkai quickly snatches the note, and stuffs it into his pocket.

“Oh…haha! That must be just a joke from my friend!” the younger waves his arms about, before turning back to his locker to face away from the elder.

He bites his lip.

“You’re a really bad liar, you know that right?” Yeonjun asks, tone flat. Turning to look inside his locker, the elder moves Kai aside to dislodge the thumbtacks.

“This, too?” he asks, eyebrow raised.

Hueningkai slumps over in defeat.

“You’re a member of the student council now, remember? If anyone’s bothering you, you can speak to us. I’m a force to be reckoned with, alright?” Yeonjun says, stare pointed.

Feeling useless, Hueningkai pulls the books he needs out of his locker, and closes the door shut.

Had that been why Yeonjun was sticking so close to him lately? Or was it just a coincidence? 

No- there was no way Yeonjun could ever see this coming. Even Hueningkai wasn't sure who the culprit could be.

With a hesitant smile, he looks up and nods.

“Thanks, hyung.”

Then he pauses, eyes flickering up in understanding.

If he could use Yeonjun to protect him, that was a better weapon than merely posing an influence over him. 

Even the idea alone would be useful, without the other having to be physically present. 

He turns around, a look of pensiveness flickering over his face.

If he could somehow use this over Jinkyung... 

“No-one’s bothering me. I can take care of things by myself, hyung,” he nods, mind already getting to work.

**

In his paranoia, Taehyun had truthfully expected some kind of repercussion after being discovered by Hueningkai on the rooftop.

It wasn’t that he had expected the younger to report them or anything- no, he had simply thought that there must be some sort of karma associated with his wrongdoings. 

That’s why it’s entirely unsurprising when he’s pulled out of class one day, barely seconds after the ring of the lunch bell, his heart at the pit of his stomach.

What he doesn’t expect, however, is Choi Soobin.

Eyes wide, he follows the other outside, as his classmates whisper to each other, pointing.

Truthfully, it’s the first time he’s ever seen the co-president up close.

It was rare to see either of them, and when one did, it was usually very, very bad news. 

Looking up, Taehyun takes in the other’s height, along with his dark hair and simple, yet stern face, glasses perched on top of his nose. 

Practical and firm.

Someone very much like himself, Taehyun thinks, before reddening slightly at the thought. 

If only he had his height.

Trying to paste on the most neutral expression he can, he waits until the other turns around, before giving a slight bow.

“Kang Taehyun, right?” Soobin asks, tone polite, and he nods. 

“I just wanted to speak to you about your tutoring sessions with the new transfer student Choi Beomgyu,” comes the next words, and if Taehyun had not already been so mentally prepared, he would have choked on them.

He swallows quickly.

“Ah, is that so?” he asks carefully, trying to gauge the situation.

The other pauses slightly, before frowning back.

“Student council member Hueningkai stated that you were providing him with tutoring lessons. And that you would also convince him to apologise to Jinkyung,” Soobin prompts, to which the younger straightens up.

“Yes, of course,” Taehyun replies with a firm nod, although his mind races at about a million miles per second.

What had Kai been up to behind his back?

Stepping forward, Soobin looks down on him with a certain sharp look of curiosity in his eyes.

“Well, I wanted to see constant updates on his progress. Where do you two usually hold your lessons?”

Seemingly unaffected, Taehyun proceeds with a calm tone.

“We speak throughout the day, rather than dedicating full sessions. He’s a visual learner,” he explains, in response to the taller’s eyebrow raise. 

“But you’re not in the same class,” he points out. Taehyun swallows.

“We talk throughout the lunch break.”

“Why isn’t he here then? Where do you usually hold it?” Soobin presses further.

Panicking slightly, Taehyun’s eyes flicker briefly to the side to grasp at his thoughts.

Where did they hold the lessons?

How was he supposed to know?

That’s when he feels a sudden clap on his shoulder, and he jumps.

Startled, he quickly turns around to see a dark haired boy with a fox-like grin move into his periphery. Taehyun has to do a double take.

Fingers digging into his shoulder, the boy leans forward, taking in a good, long look of the taller boy before him, before laughing.

“Well, well, look who we have here. Mr stick-up-the ass himself,” he smirks, arms folded.

From the corner of his eye, Taehyun sees students crowding around to watch, and whispers increasing in volume. 

“Yeonjun,” says Soobin distastefully, and it suddenly dawns upon him. Turning around to look at the other, he’s in wonder at how much he lives up to the reputation attached to his name.

He was no doubt incredibly attractive, drawing the stares of everyone around him. Taehyun doesn’t know if he feels comfortable being exposed to the attention.

“What’re you doing here?” Soobin asks, turning up his nose at the other.

With a roll of his eyes, Yeonjun props his arm up on Taehyun’s shoulder, to which a flicker of annoyance passes by on his face.

Soobin’s eyes snap towards it, but if he picks up anything, he doesn’t let it show.

“Why, I’m here for my darling friend Hueningkai! i saw he wasn’t in his classroom, so I asked around and came to find his best friend instead. Kang Taehyun, right?” Yeonjun turns to the younger, flashing a toothy smile.

Taehyun nods politely.

“Hueningkai?” Soobin asks, raising an eyebrow.

Yeonjun snaps quickly back to the other, smile growing like the Cheshire cat.

“Yes- the poor thing was traumatised. A certain boy has been causing trouble, I’ve heard,” he clucks.

_Beomgyu_, Taehyun thinks to himself.

At this, Soobin looks briefly to Taehyun, as if questioning, before bluntly remarking, “we already have that sorted. Reform measures have been implemented.”

The tone is impossibly cold, but it doesn’t deter Yeonjun. 

“Really? And how’s that working out? Is Jinkyung’s family subdued? Is the school council content?” the fox-like boy asks almost innocently.

Cheeks darkening slightly, Soobin scowls back at him.

“And what do you have planned, exactly?”

“What makes you think I’ll tell you?” Yeonjun leans forward in response, grin widening in challenge.

“I— have to go,” Taehyun says, suddenly breaking into the conversation, before grabbing his lunchbox. Stepping back, Soobin pushes his glasses up, and lets out a loud cough.

“Yes, I apologise that I let this conversation get so carried away, Taehyun-ssi,” he says awkwardly, as Yeonjun snickers. He shoots him a dirty look.

“It’s okay, I just…have to go. Thanks for coming to see me,” Taehyun bows politely, before speed-walking off. Hopefully Soobin wouldn’t realise that he had left without giving him what he wanted. 

Sighing to himself, he thinks that as long as he wasn’t being punished like he had thought, and as long as the student council presidents were distracted enough not to remember what they were originally there for, he would take his luck and get out of there.

He was _so_ late.

**

“What took you so long, smart mouth?” Beomgyu asks, as Taehyun makes it up the last flight of stairs. Panting slightly, he raises the lunchbox.

The blond lightens up almost immediately.

“Come quick,” he says, patting the spot next to him, as Taehyun rolls his eyes.

Of course that would change things. 

“You’re like a dog- so easily pleased,” he says dryly, before setting it down on the ground. The other does nothing to dispute it- just breaks open his set of chopsticks, and begins digging in. 

Watching the other eat with such enthusiasm, Taehyun smiles slightly to himself, before waiting for an opening. 

“I think Jinkyung’s been handled,” he says, after a moment of silence.

Eyebrows raised, Beomgyu turns to look at him.

“What makes you think that?” he asks, tone flat.

Taehyun chews his lip.

“I was just visited by the two student council co-presidents. They wanted to talk about helping you,” he explains, hands waving about cautiously.

“Both of them? At the same time?” Beomgyu asks, incredulous.

He has a piece of rice stuck to the corner of his lip, making him look ridiculous, which Taehyun can’t help but stare at. He nods slowly.

“It’s a miracle if they’re in the same place outside the student council rooms without tearing each others’ heads off,” the elder frowns.

“Well it seems like Hyuka’s plan worked. You’re going to be safe,” Taehyun replies, smiling.

Beomgyu considers this for a moment, before looking to the side.

“We don’t know that. At the end of the day, they’re probably just a bunch of self-serving pricks,” he retorts, staring at the ground, as if daring not to hope.

“But don’t you see? We’re making progress- just a few days ago, you never would have thought you’d get both student presidents on your side, right?” Taehyun prompts gently.

Eyebrows furrowed, Beomgyu looks up, before the cloudiness in his expression gradually fades away. He sets down his chopsticks. 

“You’re right.”

“Of course. You can always depend on my words, right?” Taehyun smiles, nodding.

Beomgyu hesitantly smiles back.

Suddenly, he pushes his lunchbox to the side, scooting over to Taehyun’s side, and drops down into his lap.

“Oh!”

Taehyun’s hands move about, suddenly unsure where to go.

Looking down at the boy, Taehyun notes with surprise that it’s the first time he’s ever sees him facing upwards at him, rather than curling away.

“What’re you doing?” 

Closing his eyes, the blond waits for a while, before responding.

“I just wanted to lay here for a while,” he admits.

Taehyun’s eyebrows knit slightly in concern for a moment, before he sees the peaceful expression on the other’s face.

He hesitantly reaches a hand down to push the hair away from the other’s eyes.

“Talk to me,” Beomgyu says, suddenly.

Cocking his head, the younger smiles slowly.

“What about?”

“Anything.”

Thinking, Taehyun nods in reply.

“Okay. Did you know that aside from the asteroid collision 65 million years ago, the most promising hypothesis to date, recent hypotheses suggest that the dinosaurs became slowly extinct over time due to global warming?” 

Blankly, Beomgyu stares back at him.

“Something more relevant to me,” he revises his statement, after a moment of silence.

“Okay,” Taehyun snickers in response.

Humming to himself, a mischievous look glimmers in his eyes. 

“Well, do you want to start our tutoring sessions, since we’ve apparently been having them together?” he asks.

Eyes snapping up, Beomgyu frowns.

“What?”

“Yeah, apparently I’ve been doing a great job at reforming you and changing you into a sightly, young gentleman, according to Hyuka and Choi Soobin,” Taehyun grins, brushing his hair back.

Beomgyu snorts in response.

“Right. You already know I’m a top student- I’m just a target for the teachers ‘cause of my shit attitude,” he waves. Taehyun only raises an eyebrow back.

“Okay, well do you want to work on that attitude then? Apparently I’m supposed to convince you to apologise to Jinkyung,” he adds on casually.

He relishes in the immediate outrage that spreads across the blond’s face.

“Fuck no! That cretin was the one that came after me in the first place,” Beomgyu snarls, before Taehyun pushes him back down calmly.

“Look, it would really help your case if you showed that you were mature enough to take control of the situation,” Taehyun explains, levelling a stern look at him.

Lying back down, Beomgyu lays a hand over his eyes.

He remains silent for a while.

“Fuck. What do I need to do?”

“Just issue a formal apology with both the school principal and the student council co-presidents present. That way you have witnesses. Try your best to sound like you mean it,” Taehyun says, rolling his eyes.

With a groan, Beomgyu folds his arms.

“Fine.”

Opening one eye, Beomgyu then levels a look at the other.

“But you have to make me an extra serving of lunch for a week.”

At this sudden brazenness, Taehyun smiles softly to himself.

"Deal." 


	8. Chapter 8

Hueningkai doesn’t bring up the rooftop event when they have lunch in class next.

He doesn’t really say much of anything, really, that might set off something even remotely close to a landmine in Taehyun’s mind, which he appreciates.

But Taeyhun doesn’t need to hear him speak to hone in on his fidgeting- to know that he’s dying to find out what was going on between Taehyun and Beomgyu.

A question that Taehyun doesn’t even know the answer to himself.

After making his deal with Beomgyu, the latter had apologised formally to Jinkyung like he had said he would- lip curled in nastiness and eyes ice cold, but it had done the trick.

Jinkyung hadn’t accepted, of course, but on Beomgyu’s account, the two student council co-presidents had had no trouble playing up their admiration for the blond’s supposed courage in front of the school principal, ending in a flurry of rage by Jinkyung, followed by a threat of legal action.

But seeing the content look in Beomgyu’s eyes, it all comes rushing to Taehyun just how much effort Hueningkai had put in for them. For _him_, his best friend, all because he knew he wanted to help out a boy that everyone else feared.

Hueningkai finds a new box of grape juice on his desk for the next few days.

With the blossoming of these strange new feelings in his chest, Taehyun also finds the breakthrough of Choi Soobin into the axis of his life, strangely. 

Making a habit out of passing by and seeking Hueningkai out during lunchtimes, he begins to see the other more than what’s considered comfortably necessary. He doesn't mind it, really, but with the elder constantly asking after Beomgyu with that marked politeness of his, it’s like a constant reminder from the universe that everything in his life was now off kilter.

_Beomgyu, Beomgyu, Beomgyu._

_How is he going? I don’t know. He’s the same as always,_ Taehyun thinks miserably. 

_I wish he’d tell me what he was thinking._

Soobin merely looks back at him with a certain expression of his, pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose, and Taehyun’s smile feels bitter on his tongue.

With enough time, he could probably see him getting along with the other, with his straightforward personality and sensible words.

Still, he can’t help but miss the brash and indelicate way that Beomgyu speaks, and immediately feels his blood pressure rise.

Everything points back to him.

**

At first he doesn’t know what’s going on- can barely register where he is, when he makes out a dark shape above him, hazily blinking.

He doesn’t usually get involved in things, gliding through the corridors like a ghost just on the outside of everyone’s periphery, unseen.

It’s just the way he likes it.

So it takes him completely off guard when he’s ripped out of the hallways, hitting the lockers with enough force to blind.

The boy in front of him smiles down, as if examining an interesting specimen, before leaning in with a cock of his head.

His eyes look menacing.

“Hello,” he says, tone casual, as if they were merely passerbys having a conversation on the street.

Taehyun props himself up against the lockers, clutching his arm.

The pain is difficult to ignore.

“Jinkyung-ssi.”

“So glad you remember me,” the boy replies with a mocking smile. Taehyun notes the glint of the sun off of his gold rings, and winces.

“Sorry, did that hurt?” Jinkyung asks, cocking his head.

Taehyun offers no response, clenching his jaw.

“I didn’t mean to use so much force, you know. I just wanted to get your attention,” the boy continues, regardless.

As if considering, Jinkyung looks down at his hands.

“But I’m sure you’re just fine, right?” 

Taehyun has no room to back up.

Swallowing quickly, he clenches his fingers, trying to calm himself.

_Come on. Breathe. You know how to handle this._

Immediately, a mask of neutrality slips over his face, a defensive shield over the icy fear taking over, and he drops his hand from his injured arm despite the pain.

He looks up straight into Jinkyung’s eyes.

“Of course. How can I help?” he replies almost mockingly back.

Eyes wide, the other backs off slightly, as if unsure how to respond, before letting out a laugh.

“Fuck! You’re hilarious.”

At the response, Taehyun calmly moves a hand to his back pocket, reaching for his phone.

“What did you want from me?” he asks. He tries not to show his shaky hands.

“You’re really going to pretend you don’t know?” the other asks, raising his eyebrow. He leans forward, a dangerous smile playing on his lips.

“I’ve only spoken to you once in my life,” Taehyun replies, eyebrows furrowed.

Staring him up and down, Jinkyung leans back with a bark of laughter.

“Huh. You’re pretty good, you know that?” he asks.

"I don't know what you mean."

Taehyun tries to step out of the space, when the other grabs his wrist.

“Oh, drop the fucking act,” Jinkyung snaps, all presentations of nicety gone.

“I overheard your precious student council friend trying to bargain with Choi Soobin the other day."

Taehyun's blood runs ice cold.

“Lucky that I heard when I did- otherwise you might’ve really fooled me with that pretty face of yours. Pretending like you're a fuckin saint and all that, while trying to fuck me over," the other snarls, leaning in close enough to Taehyun that he can feel his breath on his face.

He turns his head, leaning back.

"Good things your words won't do much use anymore." 

Suddenly, Jinkyung knocks him to the ground, face hitting the stone floor with a wince.

Somewhere in the back of his head, he feels blinding hot pain, but all he can register is numbness.

He touches his mouth, and draws blood.

“You know I can report you for that, right?” he asks, trying to keep his tone calm.

The other only seems more amused.

“What? Don’t make me laugh,” Jinkyung says, eyes flashing, before leaning down to wipe off the remnants of blood off the corner of Taehyun’s lip.

Taehyun flinches back from the unwarranted touch.

“No, I think I’ll be the one fucking _you_ over. But don’t worry- it won’t just be you. I’ve already sent a warning to your precious friend,” Jinkyung sneers, and immediately the confusion is washed away into panic.

Kai? Had he already come after Kai?

Taehyun desperately tries to think of when he had seen his friend last, and if he was okay. Was he possibly battered and bloody somewhere, where no one could ever find him? 

“You don’t know what you’re talking about. He’s just doing his regular duties,” he protests, losing a little of his calm.

Jinkyung shoves him once more against the lockers. 

“Don't think your words can fuckin' influence me. The only reason I haven’t gotten him yet is ‘cause Choi Yeonjun’s taken a liking to him. But I’ll pay him off, just like I did the others.”

Heart pounding, Taehyun stares back at him.

“What others?”

“Fuck, you’re naive. That fight I had with your delinquent the other day- how did you think I only got let off with a warning?” Jinkyung sneers, leaning in.

“Don’t worry, it was only a few members of the board- but enough to sway things in my favour. It’s not illegal either, in case you tell anyone. It was just a generous donation,” he shrugs.

Taehyun stills.

Was that really what had happened? Had Beomgyu really faced the consequences both at school and at home because of a pay-off?

His fingers clench behind his back.

“It’s just a real pity that you’re a lackey of Beomgyu’s,” Jinkyung says, leaning in with a sigh.

Taehyun’s eyes snap back to him, flattening.

“Why is that?” he asks.

“Otherwise I wouldn’t have to smash your pretty little face in,” Jinkyung leans in with a sneer.

For one moment, Taehyun watches as the other’s fingers curl up, and the shadows pass over his face.

His throat tightens. 

He then promptly knocks the other out. 

Jinkyung crumples like a paper bag to the ground, falling at Taehyun’s feet.

Breathing heavily, Taehyun steps away from his body.

He looks down, chewing his lip in semi-apology.

He was out of practice.

He had taken boxing lessons ever since he was young, but had never really put them to good use, thinking that he would never be forced into a situation where he would need to use them.

Words were always taught to be more powerful than fists, and Taehyun had abided by that motto faithfully for all seventeen years of his life. But today, he had found an exception to that- he was no longer in the shadows, now that he was seen affiliated with a delinquent.

He couldn’t rely on anyone else to save him- he needed to protect himself.

Walking away, leaving Jinkyung’s limp body on the floor, he makes his way up to the rooftop, and straightens his messy hair.

Taking out his phone and everything he had recorded from the past 15 minutes or so, he taps through carefully to send across the files to Choi Soobin.

He doesn’t know whether he trusts the other, but he thinks that being a stickler for the rules and the concepts of justice, it might be in good hands.

**

“What happened to you?” Beomgyu asks, before Taehyun can even greet him, pushing aside the hastily wrapped tape around the school rooftop- no doubt the work of Hueningkai.

Confused, Taehyun only stares back at him, mentally running through a checklist of all of the things he had done to purposefully disguise the events prior.

“What do you mean?” he responds, frowning.

“Your jaw- it’s bruised,” Beomgyu responds, getting up to examine it.

Taehyun blanches.

“Oh, I must’ve fallen earlier,” he replies.

Beomgyu stares at him.

“Don’t lie to me, alright?” he says, with more gentleness than expected. Taehyun swallows, staring back for a moment, before looking down meekly.

“If it was that Jinkyung, I’ll kill him,” the blond suddenly mutters, reaching forward to turn Taehyun’s face with his hands. Taehyun startles, but doesn’t particularly mind the sensation.

“It’s fine,” he murmurs in reply, although it doesn’t stop the soft smile from spreading across his face.

Beomgyu stares for a moment, before exhaling.

His fingers feel warm on Taehyun’s cheek.

“Like you could kill him anyway. You lost like what, five fights?” he asks, trying to lighten the mood, and true to his prediction, the other pushes his shoulder, snorting. 

“You’re such a dick,” Beomgyu shakes his head, a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth.

“It’s in my nature,” is all Taehyun says in reply, shrugging. Then his expression turns serious.

“I don’t know what I should do though, in all honesty. I’ve staved Jinkyung off for now, but he’s bound to be pissed about what I did to him. He threatened both Hyuka and you earlier, and I’m afraid of what he’s capable of,” he says, fingers clenching into fists.

Eyebrows furrowing in thought, Beomgyu tilts his head slightly to the side.

He’s surprisingly calm.

“He won’t touch him,” he says simply, shaking his head.

“What?”

“Jinkyung won’t touch your friend. He’s too afraid of Yeonjun- he may act casual about it, but Yeonjun has more ties than you know. So as long as Hueningkai stays in his favour, he’s safe,” he explains with a nod. 

Slightly crestfallen, Taehyun starts to wonder if the younger was safer around the student council president than he was with him. Then he shakes his head- no, it would be much better that way.

At least he would be safe.

“Me on the other hand…I can take him, so I wouldn’t worry,” Beomgyu shrugs.

At the words, Taehyun’s head snaps up.

“What, like you handled that gang fight the other day?” he frowns.

“That was different,” Beomgyu’s jaw hardens, before looking away.

“If you don’t get injured, at the very least you’re going to be expelled. You’re already on such thin ice- Hyuka still hasn’t gotten the approval he needs for you yet. He still needs to bring the matter to the student council as a collective, and you’re not very popular among them at the moment,” Taehyun folds his arms.

With a scowl, Beomgyu looks up.

“What should I do, then?” he snaps. 

Taehyun stares back at him unflinchingly.

“Don’t get into any more fights with Jinkyung. Stay low, until we can help you.” 

Beomgyu opens his mouth to say something for a second, when he sees the expression on Taehyun’s face. He then nods, anger gradually subsiding.

“Okay.”

Quietly, Taehyun moves forward.

“This wouldn’t be your first time getting expelled, would it?” 

Without looking up, Beomgyu shakes his head.

“What’s making you try so hard to stay now?” 

There’s a moment of silence that passes.

“My dad. The disappointment. Fuck, I don’t know,” Beomgyu replies, hands in his hair.

Biting his lip, a complex expression flitters across his face.

“Do you want to stay?” Taehyun asks gently.

“Do you want me to?” Beomgyu shoots back weakly.

A moment of silence passes. 

“Yes, I do,” he replies, with earnest. 

Beomgyu looks down momentarily, considering.

“Okay.”

**

The days begin to slip through Taehyun’s fingers like quicksand. 

He hadn’t expected it, truthfully, but once he thought about it, things were different now.

While his past days with Beomgyu were born out of a sort of kinship in loneliness, waiting for the time to pass as they lay about in the sun, now they were fraught with a sense of urgency- like he had to spend up each day better than the last, so that he wouldn’t waste any more time. 

Taehyun finally decides that enough is enough.

“Hyung,” he starts, as he looks to the side, fiddling with his lunchbox. 

The other slowly looks up from his position in Taehyun's lap, before giving a half hearted raise of his eyebrow. Taehyun swallows, treading carefully. 

If there was anything Taehyun was good at doing, it was ripping a bandaid clean off.

“Where’re you gonna go when they decide to close down the rooftop? Since this _is_ our last day here?”

The atmosphere visibly shifts.

It had almost been a forbidden topic between them ever since Hueningkai had dropped the bomb, but he knew that he couldn’t prolong it any further.

At the words, Beomgyu hesitantly gets up out of Taehyun’s lap, expression complex, before turning to scratch the back of his neck.

He exhales.

“Dunno. I don’t want to go back to that hellhole of a classroom with Jinkyung,” he says. Slightly hurt, Taehyun notes that it’s much easier for the other to casually face away now that he’s sitting upright. 

Folding his arms self-consciously, he wonders why Beomgyu doesn’t want to look at him.

Had he done something wrong? Had he overstepped a line there and made things weird between them?

“Oh, well—“ he starts, awkwardly, before being cut off by the other.

“I don’t reckon I’d be very welcome anyway.”

Without turning around, Beomgyu hunches up his shoulders, in that embarrassed way of his that Taehyun has finally gotten used to recognising. 

Taehyun looks up in surprise, mouth parting.

Looking at the other’s positioning, Taehyun wants to reach out to him so badly, but holds himself back. He clenches his fingers again. 

“I guess…” the blond starts, and Taehyun braces himself for the impact.

“I could come to your classroom from now on, so you guys don’t have to deal with that guy anymore. He won’t target you if I’m there,” Beomgyu suggests quietly.

There's a moment of silence.

Taehyun closes his mouth, blinking rapidly, before looking down at his lunchbox, blush spreading like wildfire across his cheeks.

Was this real? Had Beomgyu really just said that?

When he finally looks back up and sees the shy expression on the other's face, he comes to a stop, heart racing.

"That is, if you don't mind," the blond adds on awkwardly.

The smile Taehyun gives in return is radiant.


	9. Chapter 9

The first time Beomgyu enters Taehyun’s classroom, the room goes entirely silent. 

Not even the usual whirring of the overhead air conditioner is enough to pierce the tension that spreads through the room.

It’s the kind of silence Hueningkai can only recall experiencing the first time Beomgyu transferred to his class, and again when Jinkyung had targeted him for the first time.

But this time it’s different- it’s born more out of shock than anything. 

At the sight of him, standing at the doorway with his dirty blonde hair, sharp eyes and jacket slung over his shoulder, even Hueningkai’s heart stops for a moment. 

Because he’s a sight to behold from any point of view- so painstakingly out of place, yet eye-catching all the same. 

Then a round of whispering breaks out, girls nudging each other, and boys begrudgingly curious.

Quickly beckoning him over, Hueningkai pats the desk next to him, and Beomgyu slowly makes his way across the room. 

As he walks, students unabashedly stare, drinking him in, while simultaneously backing up as if they might get hurt if he comes too close. Like he was some spectacle at a zoo. 

Dragging out the seat and falling into it, Beomgyu runs a hand through his hair, before snapping his head to look at the rest of the room.

“What? You’ve never seen another person before?” he barks, and all of them quickly turn away.

After a moment of silence, Taehyun gives him a look.

“Play nice, hyung,” he chides gently, to which the blond scoffs.

Taehyun almost reaches out and ruffles the other’s hair out of habit, when he realises where they are, and stops himself.

No- it wasn’t appropriate anymore.

Fingers itching, he rests them on his thighs instead, and smiles placatingly instead.

The other watches him carefully, before his eyes soften in response.

Ignoring the commotion, Hueningkai hesitantly leans forward, chin resting on his hands. Beomgyu’s eyes snap towards him, slightly startled, but not entirely unwelcoming.

From the slight fluttering of his eyes, Taehyun can tell that Kai’s still not entirely comfortable around the blond- but he maintains a smile nonetheless, filled with a type of genuine warmth Taehyun can’t help but admire.

“So what do you guys usually do when I’m away?” the younger finally asks, words laced with a certain kind of careful cheerfulness.

Looking over at Taehyun with an unreadable expression, Beomgyu doesn’t really respond- merely turns back to the younger with a non-committed shrug, before leaning slightly to the side.

Taehyun can tell he’s uncomfortable- isn’t really used to speaking so freely with others, but he doesn’t treat the younger with the same hostility he does with their other classmates.

He smiles slightly at this.

Before Hueningkai can divert the question to Taehyun instead, seemingly deterred by the lack of response, Beomgyu finally responds.

“He gives me food and lets me lie in his lap,” he mutters, and this time it’s Taehyun that chokes.

_What?_

“Careful, Taehyun-ah! You’re usually never so clumsy!” Kai fusses, reaching over to grab him a tissue.

Taehyun’s ears burn red in horror. 

Turning back to the blond with an accusatory look, he notes with a sort of peevishness the small smile threatening to lift the corner of the other’s lips, and aggressively pats himself down.

Choi Beomgyu was _messing_ with him?

“Maybe if people didn’t phrase things so weirdly, it wouldn’t have happened,” he says, shooting Beomgyu a look, before instinctively smoothing it over.

The blond only shrugs, looking down.

The smile is even more evident now. 

“Wait a minute,” Hueningkai suddenly interjects, holding out a hand with a furrowed brow.

Taehyun’s eyes widen.

“What?”

“You didn’t tell me you were making food for him too,” he whines, a finger pointing at the blond in accusation. Beomgyu only gives him a smirk in return, and all of a sudden, Taehyun feels attacked on both ends.

“I just had extra,” is all he can say, holding his hands up.

“Wasn’t it personalised?” Beomgyu asks, raising an eyebrow.

“I can’t believe you let him lie in your lap!” Hueningkai wails, and Taehyun buries his head in his palms, trying to stifle the oncoming headache.

“B-beomgyu-ssi?” a nervous voice suddenly comes from behind them, and they all stop, turning to see a cute girl tucking a stray strand of her behind her ears. 

Taehyun immediately straightens up, looking back and forth between the two.

His cheeks burn, feeling incredibly embarrassed all of a sudden. 

What a display they must have put on.

Moving back quickly, Taehyun allows the girl a bit of room to manoeuvre around the table, before looking at the blond in confusion. 

Who was this girl? Did Beomgyu know her?

“Do I know you?” Beomgyu asks with a frown, mirroring the directness of Taehyun’s thoughts almost exactly, as the girl stares expectantly at him.

Taehyun almost chokes for the second time. 

Clearly flustered, the girl looks between the two of them, before putting a hand to her cheek.

“N-no, but I’ve been watching you for a while. I didn’t know you and Taehyun-ssi were friends,” she says, wide eyed, and the blond frowns in response.

“So what?”

To himself, Taehyun admittedly thinks the same thing.

He barely knew this girl either, but he supposed that it was a good point of reference since they were in the same class. He tries to keep his expression neutral.

“I-I was just wondering whether it was true you beat up six guys at your old school,” she finally says, leaning forward.

The room goes unexpectedly silent. Beomgyu visibly stiffens.

At the reaction, he then leans back in his seat with a scoff.

“Is that what you really think?” 

“I don’t know- it’s just what I heard,” she replies, looking nervously about.

There’s a long silence that follows, and Taehyun immediately hones in on Beomgyu’s agitation, and his nervous tics. 

_What kind of a first ice-breaker question was that?_

Taehyun raises a hand slightly, in preparation to take control of the situation, when Hueningkai breaks in rather sheepishly. 

“You know, I honestly wanted to know that myself,” he replies. Taehyun not so discretely kicks him in the shin.

“Ouch!” 

“It’s not true,” Beomgyu replies, eyes sliding over to Taehyun.

“W-what?” the girl asks, eyes wide.

Beomgyu’s jaw sets, and his eyes harden as they sweep over to her, making her immediately step back.

“I don’t know you, so feel free to believe whatever you wanna fuckin’ believe, but I don’t just go around beating people up for no good reason.”

At the sharp language, the girl snaps her mouth shut.

No-one dares say a word.

Taehyun can see the looks of doubt and fear crossing peoples’ faces, and he bristles slightly- knows that Beomgyu can have a sharp mouth, but to see people judge him solely based on that makes him more defensive than expected. 

Still, he doesn’t speak up- knows it would only make the situation worse, and make people think even more poorly of him.

So he opts for a light comment instead.

“He really doesn’t,” he chimes in, levelling a well-meaning look at the girl, whose doe-like eyes snap startlingly towards him. Even Kai is surprised at his interjection.

“He only beats people one way…in lack of intellect,” he teases, and Beomgyu’s mouth falls open.

“Ya!”

Somehow the tension shifts dramatically. 

At his easy expression, the girl break out into a smile of relief as well, raising her hand to cover her laugh. Even Beomgyu looks visibly less tense than before.

“Ah, well I didn’t really mean it that way anyway. I just wanted you to know that even if you had, a lot of people like the idea anyway. Makes you seem really tough, fighting against all those that challenge you,” she says, laughing sheepishly. At the seemingly positive reaction, Taehyun smiles slightly to himself.

Then Beomgyu opens his mouth.

“I don’t really care what other people think.”

The girl’s face falls.

Alarmed, Taehyun quickly sends a pointed stare at the blond- but as if already sensing his error, Beomgyu hesitantly looks up, rubbing the back of his neck.

“I mean…I tend to live by my own rules. But thanks,” he adds on. His eyes soften into a much warmer tone, and Taehyun can tell that he’s actively trying.

The girl looks back, slightly startled, before a rosy tint colours her cheeks. 

“N-no problem, Beomgyu-ssi,” she finally replies after a moment of silence, a shy smile playing on her lips.

Then, almost hesitantly, Beomgyu turns to the side.

“I think my face’s enough to cover that, anyway. People already seem to be running away at the very sight of me,” he replies with a furrowed brow, to which she unexpectedly laughs. Another girl next to her joins in.

Not expecting the positive reaction, Beomgyu looks down at the table, slightly embarrassed. 

Taehyun feels something stirring inside him.

He tries to force the butterflies down.

**

Beomgyu eventually learns to behave- or behave as much as it takes not to get dragged out of the hallways and suspended by a teacher every other day.

He apologises again to Jinkyung, this time with the entire student council present.

Taehyun doesn’t know how he survives it, what with the fiasco that had happened with him near the lockers the other day, but if Jinkyung wants to do something about it, he doesn’t let it show. Just keeps it down with a clenched jaw and a murderous twitch of his fingers.

Beomgyu tells him all about the nasty black eye he sports though, that doesn’t seem to be healing anytime soon. It was most certainly a mystery to many where it had come from, given that Beomgyu hadn’t been in a fight anytime soon. 

From what he hears from Hueningkai, the apology seems to go across well too- with both the student council and the principal being somewhat impressed by his initiative, with even Jinkyung’s family seeming to be reluctant to press charges.

Beomgyu begrudgingly thanks Taehyun for the suggestion, although he doesn’t quite admit that he’s a genius, like the younger had asked of him.

His good behaviour doesn’t go unnoticed among the students, either.

There’s less of that shocking silence that comes about whenever Beomgyu enters the room, and there are even some girls that are willing to approach him, evidently more confident than before.

Beomgyu doesn’t quite seem to snap at them like before either, although he doesn’t necessarily pay them much mind, treating them like flies. 

It’s a little frustrating, Taehyun thinks to himself sometimes, when he’s trying to have a conversation and a new person enters every other minute or so, but he finds that he doesn’t mind.

If it was something to help Beomgyu’s reputation, it was fine. 

It bodes well for them too, when Soobin comes around for his weekly check-ups. With Beomgyu’s steady grades and lessened hostility, it isn’t difficult to keep up their tutoring charades, particularly with so many people interrupting them all the time to talk to the blonde. 

It strangely gives Taehyun time as well, to bond a little more with Soobin despite the other’s stand-offish persona. He finds that the other has similar intellectual interests, and they even exchange numbers at one point. Still, he can’t help but find his eyes drifting off to Beomgyu every once in a while, and the way his hair looks under direct sunlight. 

If Soobin notices anything, he doesn’t say it. Just watches along with Taehyun, and the string of newly converted admirers chasing after the blond like kids at a toy store, while the other attempts to hold them at bay. 

Somehow, it becomes hard for Taehyun to swallow.

But strangely, things begin to change for him as well.

There were more people approaching him and asking him things- mostly about Beomgyu, but surprisingly sometimes about his own study methods and music taste.

It was entirely different than before, where he received smiles in passing, but no one ever really stopped to ask him anything. 

He had always been outside their periphery, albeit it being a deliberate choice.

But now, with an embarrassed smile, he finds that he doesn’t really mind it. 

Among the crowd, he had become particularly popular with the boys- all of whom were interested in Beomgyu and what he was like, too afraid to approach him.

It’s amusing but frustrating all at the same time, being treated like some kind of walking encyclopaedia, but Taehyun can’t remember the last time he had hung out in a group like that. He finds that the smile on his face while talking about the blond wasn’t entirely crafted like it usually was.

Resting a cheek on one palm a few weeks later, Taehyun sets his thoughts aside and stabs open a hole in his juice box. Looking across the table at his closest friends, he thinks to himself it wouldn’t be so bad just to hang out with two.

“Can Huening-ah have some?” Hueningkai asks in aegyo with a wink, leaning over the table as he watches the elder.

With a laugh, Taehyun pushes him away, before eventually handing him the drink.

“You’re so easily influenced,” Beomgyu comments scathingly, folding his arms, but Taehyun only leans back with a grin.

He levels a pointed look at the homemade lunchbox in front of the blond, to which the other looks down, ears flushed.

“Shut up.”

Some things had definitely changed, but some things were always going to be the same.

At the distraction, Hueningkai slurps up the last of the juicebox, before launching into a run.

“Ya!”

**  
On the sixth week after Beomgyu joins their table, it rains for the first time.

Looking up at the pouring sky, Taehyun thanks himself that he had thought to bring an umbrella, and his perpetual preparation. 

Staring out the window, he can already envision Kai running in with a pout, complaining about the wet weather, despite over-using the excuse to huddle up close to Taehyun.

Then he stops, when he thinks about Beomgyu.

It was strange.

Even after joining their group, he had never really gone home together with them.

And knowing that the other usually stayed behind at school, he can’t help but worry.

The blond had had a history of staying out in the rain, after all.

When the school bell finally rings, signalling the end of the day, Taehyun takes his time packing up his things, waiting for the enthusiastic face of his best friend to come peeking through the windows.

But when he finally raises his head in response to the other’s voice, he’s surprised to see two faces instead of one.

Beomgyu stands awkwardly next to the younger, rubbing one arm.

“Hey,” Taehyun says, a little breathless.

“I convinced him to come with us!” Hueningkai exclaims brightly, to which the other levels a dark look at him.

“More like threatened,” he murmurs under his breath. The younger doesn’t respond.

“I know you always come prepared with an umbrella, so I thought you two might wanna share,” Hueningkai points with a smile.

Raising his eyebrows, Taehyun stares back at him.

“What? Why don’t you share with him?” he asks.

“I don’t want him to hit me! He’s already mad that I brought him along,” Hueningkai whines, before smiling sheepishly at the blond.

He glares back.

“Sure, then,” Taehyun says, shrugging, before pulling his bag onto his back, tightening the straps. He sneaks a brief glance at Beomgyu, before clearing his throat.

“Where are we taking him exactly, though? The station?” he asks, trying to scope the situation out. Hueningkai looks at him, horrified.

“In this weather? He’ll catch a cold! Let’s take him to your house first. My mom already talked to your mom and gave me permission to stay over,” the younger grins, nodding vigorously.

Raising an eyebrow, Taehyun looks at him carefully, before shaking his head with an exasperated smile.

“I guess it’s settled then. Are you okay with coming over to dry off? My house is halfway to the station,” he asks Beomgyu. As he turns to the other, he’s suddenly struck by a sense of nervousness, and his mouth begins to feel dry. 

It doesn’t register for him to feel self conscious until now, about how the other was going to be in his living space— but it hits him all at once, even though for some reason it had never been a problem with Hueningkai.

His words trail off slightly, but he reconfigures his expression quickly, and gives a tight smile.

“Sure,” is all Beomgyu says, before looking down. He kicks slightly at the ground, and Taehyun immediately picks it up.

His telltale sign of nervousness.

It couldn’t be. Was Beomgyu…?

Shaking his head, Taehyun quickly tries to dispel the thoughts entering his mind, and promptly pulls out his umbrella, following Hueningkai’s excited hops towards the front gate.

He doesn’t know how to act. 

It was the first time he was going anywhere with Beomgyu, really- that’s probably why he was thinking all these weird thoughts, and being so hypersensitive to Beomgyu’s reactions. Or at least, that was the only explanation that made sense in Taehyun’s head.

Even in their rooftop or classroom hangouts, they had never really _moved_ anywhere.

They had simply just…existed. 

The blond didn’t even go with him to the vending machine during break times, trying to keep his presence as tightly confined as he could in the classroom, while simultaneously giving off warning vibes to anyone who came close. 

Sometimes Hueningkai was there to keep him company, sometimes he wasn’t.

But Beomgyu was still stubborn in that aspect. 

And now, walking alongside him, Taehyun feels a sense of something new that he can’t exactly place, stealing shy glances at the other and his striking side profile.

It’s different— he likes it.

Fingers tapping restlessly at his sides, Taehyun suddenly slows down to a halt as they pass by the steps, placing a hand on the crook of Beomgyu’s elbow.

The blond startles.

“Look. It’s the place we first found you,” Taehyun points, with a teasing grin.

Leaning over to look at the bottom of the stairwell, Beomgyu stares for a few moments, blinking slowly, before turning back to the younger with a look of confusion.

“We?” he asks.

“Yeah, me and Hyuka. We saw you crouched over here that first day we met— you know, when I gave you that blazer and you gave it back to me all washed—“

“Yeah, yeah, I got it,” Beomgyu says, embarrassed, although he doesn’t deny it.

After a moment of silence, he looks back at the younger, and bumps his shoulder gently against his own.

“I didn’t know you guys cared that much since the beginning. What made you want to scope me out?” he asks.

At the choice of language, Taehyun lets out a laugh. 

“It wasn’t really scoping. Hyuka was really worried about you, and…I guess I just saw you and thought no-one should be out there alone in the cold,” he replies.

“Well you were right,” Beomgyu says with a self-deprecating huff of laughter.

Taehyun looks up, forehead creasing in concern. The other’s expression is carefully constructed, and he frowns. 

“I guess I uh…wasn’t doing so well then,” Beomgyu explains, although he doesn’t look at Taehyun, eyes fixed to the path ahead. He then bites his lip.

“But then you helped me out when no-one else would even look twice at me,” he says. He turns to look at Taehyun, eyes bright and all-consuming. Startled, Taehyun can only stare back, mirroring the other’s open canvas of emotions through his own, before his fingers twitch, longing to touch. 

Then Beomgyu looks away, and the fire is extinguished.

“I mean…even if at that time I was annoyed to death by you,” he adds on quickly with a shrug, as if to dispel the tension. 

At this, Taehyun blinks slowly, uncomprehending. 

Then he lets out a laugh, shoving at him.

“Jerk!” he says, shaking his head.

“Dick,” Beomgyu shoots back, sticking a tongue out, before slipping into a large, genuine smile.

“What’re you guys still doing back there? Hurry up! The rain’s getting heavier,” Hueningkai’s splashing feet come into view, and Taehyun quickly nods with a laugh.

“We’re coming,” he says, pulling open his umbrella, before beckoning Beomgyu over.

And come, he does, without question.


	10. Chapter 10

The walk back to Taehyun’s house is long and treacherous, the three sticking close together to huddle against the rain, shoes splashing in the puddles formed along the road.

But somehow Taehyun doesn’t mind, laughing as Hueningkai shrieks, and Beomgyu clings onto him with a little too much force, an adorably upset look on his face.

He keeps close by, determined not to get wet, and it’s so different from the delinquent image he had prescribed to him all those months ago that Taehyun almost laughs.

Letting himself be dragged along, he revels in the warmth of Beomgyu’s shoulder against his own, and the callousness of his fingers wrapped around the crook of his arm. Feels the softness of the other’s hair tickling his face, as Beomgyu ducks under, and the hurried nature of his steps against the wet pavement.

At this, Taehyun subconsciously presses a little closer, a small smile playing on his lips.

He wants to stay like this for just a moment longer.

When they finally make it to his front step, pulling down their umbrellas and shaking off the rain, Kai points at Beomgyu and lets out a laugh.

“What?”

When Taehyun finally sets down his umbrella, propping it neatly against the wall, he sees what the younger means.

The entire right half of Beomgyu’s shoulder is wet, the material seeping through to the visible skin.

Embarrassed, Taehyun brings a hand to his mouth.

“Why didn’t you tell me I wasn’t covering you properly?”

“It’s fine. I don’t really mind the rain,” is all Beomgyu replies with, giving a half-hearted shrug, to which Taehyun frowns.

He didn’t?

Then why had he been holding on to Taehyun so tightly?

Mouth snapping shut, he looks up at Beomgyu to seek out any indication of acknowledgement at the implications, but finds none on the other’s perpetual stone faced expression.

Embarrassed, he quickly shakes his head to rid himself of the thought.

He had just been overthinking things, as usual.

Before he can say anything else, the door suddenly opens. 

He jumps, quickly turning around to see his mother standing at the entrance, with an expression of surprise.

“Goodness- how long have you boys been standing there?” 

Looking at Hueningkai, Taehyun only barely manages to stave off a sheepish expression.

“Don’t worry, we only just got here, Mrs Kang,” Hueningkai nods with a smile, before pointing at the discarded umbrellas.

Eyes glancing over them, then over to the group of boys, her eyebrows suddenly raise.

“My, who’s this? There’s three of you today?”

Suddenly straightening up, Taehyun gestures at Beomgyu with a nod.

“Mom, this is Beomgyu hyung. He’s a schoolmate of ours. Since he lives at the station, we thought he might be able to dry off here first,” he says carefully. Her mouth opens in surprise.

“Sorry for the intrusion,” Beomgyu ducks his head into a bow, before scratching at the back of his neck nervously, avoiding eye contact.

Clearly startled by the aggressive politeness, Mrs Kang snaps out of her silence, shaking her head.

“Not at all! You’re very welcome here,” she replies warmly, before straightening up.

“In fact, you boys must be so cold- please come in! I’ll get you some towels,” she beckons them in, quickly walking to the closet and out of sight.

As the boys move around the space, setting their things down, Beomgyu quietly speaks up.

“Your mom seems nice,” he comments off-handedly, to which Taehyun lets out a huff of laughter.

“Thanks. Sorry if she gets a bit overbearing at times- but she mostly means well,” he replies with a nod.

“Seriously, Taehyun’s such a downer in comparison to her, sometimes I’m surprised they’re related,” Hueningkai says with a grin, before moving away with a squeal to avoid the fist of the elder.

Beomgyu smiles back.

When his mom finally comes back with an armful of fluffy towels, Taehyun stops as he notes the glint in her eyes, and internally groans.

He knows an interrogation is coming.

“So, Beomgyu-ssi,” she starts, with a knowing smile.

The blond looks up, surprised.

“You’re so handsome- you must be very popular with the kids at school,” she gushes, to which Beomgyu unexpectedly freezes.

Cheeks slowly blossoming pink, he coughs twice.

“Not really,” is all he says, voice rough, but quiet, and she laughs.

“And so modest as well! How on earth did you pick up a boy like this?” she asks her son, who similarly turns the same shade, though for entirely different reasons.

“Mom,” Taehyun complains, embarrassed, before looking to Hueningkai for help.

The younger only delivers a grin back, propping his chin up on his palm like the traitor that he is.

“So how exactly _do_ you know our two boys? It’s not very often that we have anyone new over,” his mom takes a seat on the couch, before levelling another teasing look at her son.

He quickly looks away.

“School,” Beomgyu says quietly, patting his shoulder dry with the fluffy towel. His fingers clench nervously around it.

“Is that all? Then should I expect an entire army of kids at my home tomorrow then?” Taehyun’s mother jokes, placing her hands on her hips.

“No, he’s just being mysterious about it. We became close after he and Taehyun were caught trespassing on the school rooftop,” Hueningkai shrugs, before pausing. Taehyun immediately fumbles with his phone and drops it with a clatter.

What?

At the words, Taehyun’s mother turns around, staring at her son with wide eyes.

“Is this true?” 

Ripping the towel off of him, Beomgyu reaches a hand out in response.

“It’s not his fault. I made him do it.”

Eyes widening, Taehyun stares back at him. He then snaps his mouth shut, touched.

“No need for all of that, Beomgyu dear,” Taehyun’s mother waves dismissively, before folding her arms.

“I was just surprised that my stickler for the rules son is finally acting out! I’d always been telling him he needed to get out more,” she chastised the other, shaking her head.

“Wait, you’re not upset?” Beomgyu asks, frowning.

“Are you kidding? This is Taehyun we’re talking about-- he’s been a study nut ever since he was born. I think he deserves some time for rebellion,” she laughs, as Taehyun rolls his eyes. 

Eyes glancing between the two, as if uncomprehending, Beomgyu’s eyebrows knit together.

“You two are strange,” he says, although there’s no malice behind his tone.

“That’s us,” Mrs Kang shrugs with a grin, before ruffling her son’s hair.

Hesitantly, Beomgyu inches forward.

“So he’s been like this his whole life?” he ventures.

“Oh, most definitely. I can show you some pictures if you want—“

“Mom,” Taehyun interjects, embarrassed, to which she waves him off.

“Actually, thank you, Ms Kang, but I probably need to get going soon,” he hesitantly nods in agreement at the cue, before bowing again. His body language is awkward, as if unsure, and he takes a cautious step back.

Suddenly, a large crack of thunder sounds out, and they all jump. 

Rushing to the window, Taehyun’s mother pulls aside the curtains, and watches the heavy sheets of rain pummelling against the sidewalk.

“Oh no, there’s no way I’m letting you out in that weather. You’ll either have to stay here until it lets up, or you can stay the night,” she clucks, shaking her head.

Eyes widening briefly in panic, Beomgyu looks over at Taehyun, before down at his phone. 

His fingers clench tightly over it for a moment, deliberating.

Then he slowly nods his head.

“If…if it’s not too much trouble,” he mumbles to himself, a complex expression flitting across his face.

Somewhere in there, Taehyun strangely detects relief. 

“Of course not. Taehyun dear, will you take the boys up to your room and lend them some of your spare clothes? And pull out a spare mattress,” she asks, to which Taehyun dutifully nods.

“Actually, Hyuka, you stay down here with me. I want you to try one of my new recipes—“ she trails off as the two walk into the kitchen, talking noisily, suddenly leaving the other two alone. 

At this, Taehyun sends Beomgyu an exasperated look, before beckoning him upstairs.

They walk quietly in tandem, socks against carpeted floor, until they finally reach the top, coming to a halt.

Heart pounding nervously, Taehyun comes to a brief stop in front of his room, before looking up at the blond, who stares back at him, eyes soft.

He then turns, pushing open the door.

When they enter, he feels self conscious in ways he had never felt with Hueningkai around before.

He had always prided himself in being neat, his room the poster of what a model youth’s bedroom should be; bed neatly made, wooden desk with a lamplight and books stacked neatly to the side. 

Not a single thing out of place.

Still, he feels oddly self-conscious about it. 

Looking back at the blond, he sees that the other’s eyebrows are slightly raised at the sight, but he doesn’t comment on it- merely follows Taehyun to the centre of the room, and waits patiently.

Opening his closet, Taehyun parts through all of the clothes, sectioned by colour and clothing type, before pulling out a spare grey hoodie. 

It’s slightly larger than the others, but sits comfortably in his hands.

He turns to Beomgyu and hands it to him.

“Thanks.”

Taking it into his arms, the blond pulls it against his chest, fingers curling around the material, before looking at Taehyun with fluttering eyes.

“No problem,” Taehyun replies softly, only just to say something. 

Then a particularly loud clang rings out from the downstairs kitchen, making them both jump.

Coming to his senses, Taehyun quickly steps away from the blond, rubbing the back of his neck.

“You should take these too,” he suddenly blurts out, grabbing some plaid pyjama pants, and thrusting it upon the alarmed other.

“Oh,” Beomgyu says, taking it into his arms.

“The bathroom’s just down the hallway on the right,” Taehyun adds with a quick nod, before looking down at the ground.

“Okay.”

Taehyun stands there, heart beating nervously, until he hears the footsteps of the other receding into the distance, and the closing of a door. He lets out a breath.

He leans against his desk, running a hand through his hair.

What was wrong with him?

That must've seemed so strange.

Strange to the point that he wouldn’t have been able to explain it if his mother had suddenly walked in, much less to himself. 

Shaking his head, he quickly takes the time to close his bedroom door, before walking over to his closet, pulling out his standard zip up hoodie and shorts he wears as his pyjamas. 

In calculated and methodical movements, he changes quickly, before folding up his school uniform and placing it to the side to put into the washing machine later. 

Then, passing by the mirror and noticing his messy hair, he quickly combs through it, patting it down flat. 

He almost feels embarrassed at the way he’s suddenly fussing over his own appearance, but he quickly pushes it to the back of his mind.

It wasn’t wrong to want to look tidy for his guests.

He takes a cautious seat on his bed, playing awkwardly with his hands, before leaning over to look outside, seeing the rain pouring harder than ever before.

It didn’t look like it was going to let up anytime soon.

He lies back on his bed with a sigh.

Resting his hands in a clasp over his stomach, he listens to the faint sounds of pots clanging in the kitchen, and Hueningkai’s laughter.

Then he hears the running sound of water, and immediately thinks of Beomgyu.

Just how was he finding this strange situation? Suddenly being tied into their shenanigans and forced to stay over at a place he had never even asked to be in?

Taehyun had never really technically asked if Beomgyu wanted to be here. It had sort of just…happened. 

He shakes his head.

He really shouldn’t be thinking of the other while he was in the shower.

Quickly changing his line of thought, he tries to remember what the homework was for that week.

He thinks about the upcoming assessments and how he should block out his weekly calendar, then suddenly thinks of what Beomgyu would look like with damp hair and wearing his hoodie.

He turns around and buries his face in his pillow.

What on earth was he thinking?

As if imagining Beomgyu wearing his clothes would help the situation.

“What’re you doing here? Come down for dinner,” Taehyun’s mom suddenly pokes her face through the door, and he turns around, face miserable.

At the expression, and the lack of Beomgyu in the room, she gives him a knowing look, before coming in, closing the door behind her.

“So I see you’ve brought in a stray,” she starts.

“Don’t,” Taehyun groans, holding out a hand.

“What? I’m just saying it’s awfully uncharacteristic of you to bring someone else over, and especially someone like him,” she says, pursing her lips.

“Are you saying he’s too much of a delinquent for you?” he asks blankly.

“No, he seems like a very sweet boy- although I wouldn’t be opposed to it if he was,” she shrugs. Then she raises an eyebrow.

“Why, do you want my approval for him?”

“You’re free to like or dislike him as you please,” he responds, expression flat.

“My, my, what a practical response! Too bad I know you too well to tell what you’re thinking,” she teases, poking at his chest.

He leans away.

“What am I thinking then?”

“Do you really want me to spell it out? ” she challenges.

“I’m just helping out a friend,” he says, deadpan.

“An awfully handsome friend,” she points out.

When he raises an eyebrow, she holds her hands up in surrender.

“Alright, I won’t push it. Just tell your friend to come downstairs when he finishes getting ready,” she smiles gently with a nod.

Rolling his eyes with a smile, he shoos her away.

“I will.”

**

It’s a strange dynamic, the four of them at the table.

But somehow, it works.

With his dad away on one of his regular business trips again, there are just enough spaces for all of them to fit, elbow to elbow.

Hueningkai mostly keeps the conversation alive, joking boisterously and telling many tales from his time at school and on the student council, while Mrs Kang interjects with a comment every now and again. 

Taehyun merely listens with a smile, although he cuts in when Kai’s stories get a little too wild and sensationalised, correcting the record in case his mother gets any ideas.

Beomgyu’s the only one that doesn’t speak, staying silent as he pokes around at his food.

It’s the first time Taehyun’s seen the other be so cautious with his food, having devoured almost every school meal made by Taehyun within minutes.

It makes him frown.

Why was the other so nervous? Was he not used to eating around other people?

He suddenly remembers the other’s precarious dynamic at home, and wonders if he had ever had a meal with a family like this before.

He nudges the boy with a questioning smile.

Beomgyu looks up, slightly surprised, before smiling hesitantly back, ducking his head.

He becomes more engaged from that point on, under Taehyun’s watchful gaze.

When they eventually finish dinner, with Beomgyu gruffly offering to help pack up, and Taehyun’s mother swatting his hand away, the three boys eventually go upstairs.

Beomgyu looks much more at ease than before, but still uncertain of what to do, like a fish out of water. For the first time since the dinner, Taehyun is able to take a proper look at him, and notices with awe how much more innocent he looks in his hoodie and baggy pants, hair still slightly mussed from the shower, and biting his lip.

He has to fight down the powerful urge to hug him.

Unsurprisingly, Hueningkai drags them all to the spare bedroom to watch a movie, leaving no room for protest from either of them. With a sigh, Taehyun can’t help but smile to himself at how they had essentially dragged Beomgyu into their hangouts instead of just offering him a place to stay for the night.

The blond doesn’t object, though- merely takes a seat on the floor by the bed, and stares nervously at his phone.

“What’s wrong?” Taehyun asks curiously, leaning over the bed, as Hueningkai enthusiastically sets up the movie.

Looking up, Beomgyu’s eyes cautiously meet Taehyun’s own, before moving away.

“Nothing. ‘M just…waiting,” he mumbles.

Eyes flickering over to the phone, then at the blond’s nervous body language, Taehyun pieces the clues together.

“For a response from your dad? You told him you were staying over?” he asks, cocking his head. 

Surprised, Beomgyu turns around, before nodding with a frown. 

“It’s weird that you always know what’s going on. Are you a robot?” he blurts.

With a smile, Taehyun only shrugs, before folding his arms.

“I’ve been told I lack the appropriate emotions at times.”

“Actually Beomgyu hyung, Taehyunnie’s more sentimental than he looks! He cries a lot during movies,” Hueningkai interjects, making a sound of triumph as the screen flashes to the opening credits.

Surprised, Beomgyu raises an eyebrow at the younger.

Taehyun’s mouth snaps shut, feeling vaguely embarrassed.

“So do you!” he shoots at Hueningkai, but doesn’t comment any further. The younger only cackles in response, until he too breaks out into a smile. 

As the movie begins to play, Taehyun scoots back onto the bed next to Hueningkai, and folds his arms. 

The movie isn’t overall too bad, in light of Hueningkai’s strange tastes, and it actually keeps him pretty entertained for most of the first half.

But as he continues to watch, he can’t help but repeatedly glance back at Beomgyu’s position on the floor, keeping in the same stiff position the entire time, moving only every so often to flex his legs. 

It’s only after a while that Taehyun realises it might be because he doesn’t _know_ that he’s allowed to join them up on the bed. That it might be some kind of unspoken social cue that he’s not familiar with. 

Guilt creeping into his mind, he thinks to himself that for all he talks about having no friends, he at least had the privilege of having Hueningkai. He wasn’t so sure if Beomgyu had his own equivalent.

Quietly creeping over to the end of the bed, Taehyun leans over and taps Beomgyu on the shoulder.

Surprised, the blond turns around, meeting his eyes.

“Do you want to join us up here? We could use the warmth,” Taehyun smiles almost teasingly. Looking up at the bed, then at his position on the floor, he can see the literal gears turn in the blond’s mind, before his mouth is drawn in a tight line.

“No thanks,” he shakes his head, eyes sweeping down, before he turns back to the movie. Slightly disappointed, Taehyun begins to back off, when he sees the pink tinging the other’s ears. 

His heart stutters at the sight. 

Scooting back over next to Hueningkai, he wraps his arms around a pillow with a small smile, feeling slightly giddy.

After twenty more minutes of the movie, the plot seemingly coming to a standstill, Taehyun chances a brief glance at the younger next to him, and notices his closed eyes and parted mouth.

Hueningkai was asleep.

Letting out a puff of laughter, Taehyun merely shakes his head, before raising the remote to pause the movie. At the sudden move, Beomgyu turns around, questioning, when he sees the sleeping figure.

He raises an eyebrow, before his lip curls upwards slightly too.

Sensing that it wouldn’t be the right place to continue their conversation, Taehyun gently sets the remote down on the bedside table, and points outside. Beomgyu nods, and quietly follows him.

As soon as they’re standing in the corridor, they burst into laughter.

“I can’t believe he made us watch that movie, then fell asleep himself!” Taehyun giggles, to which Beomgyu shakes his head in fond exasperation.

“That little punk,” he grins, before plunging his hands into his pockets.

Chancing a brief glance back into the spare bedroom, Taehyun then turns to the blond, laughter gradually ebbing away.

“So uh, I guess we have to work out where you're going to sleep," he says, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I guess so," Beomgyu replies carefully, rocking back on one heel.

"There’s the spare bedroom- but Hyuka seems to be occupying the entire bed, so you might have to wrangle him out of that one. Or you can pull the spare mattress in there,” Taehyun starts, fiddling with the ends of his hoodie jacket. 

Beomgyu watches him, waiting.

“Or uh, you can come sleep with me. With the spare mattress. Separately,” he blurts. 

At this, Taehyun mentally throws his head against the wall, cursing himself out. 

God, why had he made that so awkward?

After a moment of silent deliberation, Beomgyu looks back at the spare bedroom, before levelling those intense eyes at Taehyun- the kind of expression he knows is only in concentration, but still makes his heart flutter nonetheless.

“I don’t think I’d wanna disturb him from his sleep. So I uh- I wouldn’t mind sharing with you,” the blond finally replies.

Right.

So this was really happening.

“Alright, I’ll go take out the mattress for you then,” Taehyun nods as calmly as he can, before turning around, heart racing at a million miles per hour.

As Beomgyu follows along closely behind him, all Taehyun can think about is how absolutely _screwed_ he is.


	11. Chapter 11

Pulling the mattress out had been the easy part.

With Beomgyu’s help, Taehyun manages without too much effort to shift it over the centre of the room, right next to his bed.

It had been a nice few seconds, really, before it had properly registered to Taehyun that Beomgyu _was going to be sleeping in the same room as him._

As in, the one that he spent most of his personal life in.

That had made things all the much harder to deal with.

Among the nearly sorted books and furniture, Beomgyu is the one thing that sticks out like a sore thumb, legs spread out across the mattress, hair tussled and staring up at him with those intense eyes of his. Like he knows what Taehyun’s thinking, able to pry apart his perfected mask of indifference with every look he sends his way.

He doesn’t touch anything- doesn’t change anything irrevocably in Taehyun’s space, but somehow his presence is larger because of it. 

Taehyun doesn’t want to handle it, so he instead moves over to sit on his bed.

“Well uh, I don’t usually go to bed until late, but I’d be happy to turn in early if that bothers you,” Taehyun offers quietly, if only out of the need for something to say.

Leaning back on his mattress, Beomgyu merely shrugs, shaking his head.

“I don’t mind either. Don’t usually sleep well,” he says simply.

A moment of silence passes.

Eyes cautiously meeting the other’s own, Taehyun then lets out a huff of laughter in response, holding his hands out in a sort of mock defeat.

“May I ask why not?”

Lying down fully onto his mattress, Beomgyu merely stares up at the ceiling, hair splayed across the pillow, and looking more contemplative than Taehyun had ever seen him before.

“Dunno, really,” he replies with a shrug. For a fraction of a second, just fleeting enough for Taehyun to have missed had he not been carefully watching, his jaw slightly tenses.

Taehyun raises an eyebrow. 

“Why do _you_ usually stay up late?” Beomgyu asks, after a moment of silence.

“Studying,” Taehyun replies, tone flat.

A puff of laughter escapes the blond’s mouth.

“Hey, don’t make fun of me,” Taehyun chides, though he can’t help the smile across his face.

“I’d never.”

“You’re deflecting,” Taehyun challenges, leaning over the bed to level his best interrogational stare at the elder.

“There’s a more substantive reason for you, isn’t there?”

Eyes flickering over to meet his own, Beomgyu turns to his side to face Taehyun properly.

“Does it really matter?” he asks, finally.

Immediately Taehyun can see the other tense up- can feel the nervous energy radiating off the other in waves, and his eyes soften.

“Well, if you don’t want to talk about it…” he says quietly, before his eyes flicker over to the blond’s phone.

Beomgyu stiffens.

Sitting up, he leans over, body language tense. 

“Listen, it’s not what you think alright?” he frowns.

Taehyun blinks at him rapidly.

“It’s…it’s…” Beomgyu suddenly trails off, holding his head in his hands.

A silence passes.

“It’s okay,” Taehyun says quietly.

Beomgyu’s palms flatten against the mattress, in a clear attempt to stop the shaking.

“Hey, hey…it’s okay. It’s okay,” Taehyun says, getting down from the bed to hold the other without even an ounce of hesitation; as natural and unquestionable as breathing. 

Beomgyu tenses at the touch, but doesn’t fight him off, just stays in his position until his breathing calms down.

“God, this is pathetic,” the blond laughs harshly, before looking up, eyes not watery or sad- just defeated.

“It’s not. You don’t have to tell me anything. It wasn’t in my place to ask,” Taehyun shakes his head. He places a hand on Beomgyu’s shoulder like an anchor; a firm reassurance that he’s there, and that he doesn’t need to provide any more than he wants to.

“You must’ve been a damn saint in your past life or something,” is all Beomgyu mutters in response, before looking down, breaths laboured.

Calmly, Taehyun rises to his feet.

“Do you want to come lie on the bed with me? You don’t have to talk or anything- just like we used to,” he says, directing a meaningful look at the other.

Looking up, a flash of recognition crosses Beomgyu’s face.

_Please don’t reject my offer again,_ Taehyun thinks to himself nervously, thinking back to the movie debacle with Hyuka.

Then the blond nods, rising to his feet.

With a sigh of relief, Taehyun moves up to take a seat on the bed, scooting back until his back hits the wall. He then pats his lap, watching as the elder cautiously positions himself in it, legs folded up.

“All good?” he asks, looking down at the blond.

“All good,” Beomgyu murmurs back.

Cautiously, Taehyun nods, before resting his hands to the side, not wanting to overwhelm the other too soon. He fiddles absent-mindedly with the bedsheets as silence fills the air. 

“It’s really not what you think,” the blond finally says, after a few minutes.

Taehyun startles.

“What do you mean?” he asks, eyes widening. 

“My dad, I mean. I...I know he’s not the best guy- in fact, he’ll probably go ballistic over me staying out today. But it’s not just ‘cause he’s a shitty person,” Beomgyu replies, eyebrows furrowing.

Gently, Taehyun brushes a hand through the other’s hair, in a calming motion, and the other’s expression relaxes visibly.

“What is it, then?”

Staying silent for a moment, Taehyun can tell that the other feels conflicted- isn’t used to sharing something personal so openly, so he lets him take his time. 

“My mom died last year,” Beomgyu says, and immediately the temperature of the room drops fifty degrees. Taehyun freezes up, not knowing how to react.

“I’m sorry,” he finally replies, voice soft.

Beomgyu only jerks his head in acknowledgement, as if too afraid to say more.

“I was already acting out at that point, but that was really the thing that pushed me over the edge, y’know? Got into more trouble, more fights, and my dad couldn’t handle it,” Beomgyu says, jaw tense, as if trying to repress his emotions.

Then he lets out a bitter laugh, hand covering his eyes.

“But though he handled it pretty shit, god knows why I can’t sleep— _I’m_ the one that fucked things up, after all. I’m a no-good fuck up.”

Pulling the elder’s arm away, much to even his own surprise, Taehyun looks down at him, expression stern.

He knows he has to do something.

“Listen to me- you’re not a fuck up. You’re just a kid responding to a difficult situation, and it’s in no way your fault, you understand?” Taehyun demands.

Eyes wide, Beomgyu only stares back at him, letting his hand drop to the bed.

“You really believe that?” he finally asks after a moment of silence, voice coarse and expression crumbling. 

“Seriously? You’re a great guy, and…fuck- one of the smartest too, even though you barely try most of the time, which drives me _insane_. But you’ve got such a heart, and probably much bigger than mine, so I don’t want to hear you saying any more of this stuff about yourself, alright?” Taehyun asks again, voice firm.

Beomgyu blinks once, then twice.

“Okay.”

The answer’s quiet and simple, but Taehyun can feel the tension physically seeping out of the elder’s body, eyes shining with a sort of relief.

“Good,” Taehyun replies, calming down finally.

Silence envelops the air, as Beomgyu lies there, considering. 

Then his eyes crinkle with a smile.

“You just swore, you know that?” he asks slowly.

Taehyun looks down at the blond’s cheeky expression, before smiling back. 

“That’s all you noticed from my speech?” he asks in a mock faint, to which the other laughs, batting his hand.

“Come off it. I think I’m done with this therapy session now,” Beomgyu says, sitting up. Taehyun smiles to himself at the other’s much lighter expression, feeling the tension dissipate from the air— knows that the other’s abruptness is only a way to dispel the awkwardness, so he plays along with a sort of internal gratitude.

Legs feeling slightly numb from the prolonged weight of the elder, Taehyun flexes them quickly, before noticing the blond watching.

“What is it?” he asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Nothing,” Beomgu responds, the side of his mouth quirked upwards.

“No really, what is it?” Taehyun prompts again, folding his arms, trying to look as stern as he can.

Beomgyu hesitates for a moment, clearly about to say something, before shaking his head. His expression then shifts, and he smiles. 

“You just look like you could fit into my pocket,” he finally says, before waving him up and down.

Taehyun’s eyebrows knit together momentarily, knowing the other had intended to say something different — but the comment takes him so off guard that it slips away from his mind altogether.

Looking down at himself, and his hoodie and knee length shorts, Taehyun frowns uncomprehendingly.

“What’re you talking about? We’re the same size- in fact, I’m pretty sure I could bench press you,” Taehyun responds.

“No, I just mean you're prec-- you seem more like a kid than at school. More relaxed,” Beomgyu shakes his head with a grin. Fingers fiddling with his hoodie jacket paws, Taehyun immediately stops to consider what the other means.

“What were you going to say, Beomgyu-ssi?” he asks, raising an eyebrow in challenge.

“Nothing,” the blond shoots back, before leaning forward, the edges of his lips slightly quirked up. 

The movement shifts the bedsheets slightly, leaving almost no space between their hands, and Taehyun’s senses heighten suddenly at the unexpected change.

For a second, their eyes meet, and Taehyun feels a spark of electricity run through the air.

_Oh,_ he thinks.

He’s close enough to see the other’s pupils dilate slightly, light illuminating the faint scar across his cheekbone, and lips gently parting. 

Then, as quickly as the moment had come, it disappears, and they both lean back, rubbing the backs of their necks.

Taehyun swallows, heart pounding. 

“You uh- you usually go to bed late even before a weekend?” Beomgyu asks suddenly, voice uncharacteristically high, leaning against the wall next to Taehyun. 

“Yeah,” Taehyun responds, slightly out of breath, before drawing his knees up to his chest. 

Pausing slightly at the implication, he quickly hurries to tack on an additional statement.

“Not for studying, or anything. I just…I have trouble sleeping sometimes,” he explains.

Looking at him cautiously from the side of his eye, Beomgyu rests his head back against the wall, looking devastatingly attractive.

“Wanna play a game, then?”

**  
Strangely, they end up talking all night. 

It starts out as some mere 21 questions type game, which soon devolves into something else entirely, the awkwardness from before seeming to dissipate surprisingly quickly. Resting on their side, asking menial questions to one another, for a want to steer away from the heavier topics, it develops into a sort of easiness that had made Taehyun question what that previous moment had even really been about— perhaps some bout of midnight delirium rather than anything more serious, regardless of what his pounding heart told him.

He likes it this way.

Somehow it was easy with Beomgyu, who never really seemed to judge- just let out a snarky comment every now and then, but seemed to let most things slide. It was simple and mindless, like no-one else existed in that moment outside of their shared space, surrounded by soft lights and the sound of rain. 

At one point, Beomgyu notices a guitar in Taehyun’s room, to which the younger looks up, surprised, before leaping off of the bed to bring it over. When he hands it to the blond, he notes that it's taken with only the slightest hint of resignation, before a slow smile begins to spread across his face.

He was softening.

It's like this that the next few minutes are spent-- Taehyun idly watching as Beomgyu quietly strums a few chords, trying to keep the noise down for the sake of the younger sleeping in the other room, before stopping to properly tune the guitar. He's surprised when the elder finally speaks up.

“You don’t seem the type to be interested in music,” Beomgyu comments, looking up. The statement is delivered very simply, but the mischievous flash in the blond’s eyes only makes Taehyun roll his own with a smile. It was true- he had only taken it up as part of his interest in learning something new, but music was still very much something that held a special place in his heart.

In fact, Taehyun had been surprised that the _other_ had had such an interest, with all of his tough reputation, but somehow it only makes him even more endearing, with his focused eyes yet gentle fingers. 

“What do you mean? Just because I like to study? Am I suddenly not allowed to have interests?” he jokes, before reaching forward to help with the tuning. He bites his tongue knowing that he had jumped to the same conclusion regarding the other, but he was simultaneously curious to see his reaction, smile working its way onto his face.

“No, I just didn’t expect us to have so much in common,” Beomgyu replies begrudgingly, before blinking at the contact. At the response, Taehyun pauses briefly.

Heart pounding, he looks up at the elder, who only stares back at him with that same expression of his as always. 

_Don't overthink that,_ Taehyun warns himself, face twitching to keep a neutral facade.

“I’m a cool guy. I get along with everybody,” he says instead, leaning back against his pillow. Fingers clenching against the bedsheets nervously, he makes a point of smiling quickly as if to give off a light-hearted impression. The blond only gives him a pointed look, before crossing his legs.

Taehyun swallows.

“You're good, right? Serenade me,” he suddenly jokes, trying to veer the conversation away from dangerous territory. He doesn't want to think about it anymore-- the acknowledgement that they actually had things in common, and that Beomgyu possibly saw right through him and his nervous response to it. 

Expecting an acid retort back from the other, he braces himself for the impact, preparing a fighting stance— only to find the other coming to a slow stop, eyes softly blinking at him, as if contemplating.

"Okay."

_What?_

Eyes flashing downwards, Beomgyu quietly positions his guitar, body caving in.

He then begins to sing, in a low, quiet tone.

_“I can see, even if you aren’t in front of me. _

_I feel you, even if you don’t say a thing. _

_Because I believe in you, even if I’m anxious."_

He strums nervously, looking down into the guitar. Eyes wide, Taehyun watches him, entirely rooted to the spot as he listens.

It isn’t a song he’s ever heard before, but it comes like second nature to the elder, a velvet tone washing in and out like the tide. His heart stutters achingly as he listens, taking in everything-- his voice, his hands, his lyrics, as if trying to convey something he can't voice normally.

Was this really Beomgyu's voice?

_”I want to dream with you no matter when, as if nothing's wrong._

_In the afternoon sunset, and even in the darkened night sky, _

__

__

_My heart is filled with you…"_

He continues to sing, slightly stilted, before finally looking up and meeting Taehyun’s wide eyes.

He comes to a stop, setting the guitar down.

“That’s all I’ve got so far,” he mumbles, before rubbing the back of his neck.

Taehyun blinks, surprised.

“You wrote that?” 

At the question, Beomgyu turns away, clearly embarrassed. Taehyun sits up quickly, reaching out to place a reassuring hand on his arm.

“Don't--! It’s...it's pretty,” he comments softly.

Beomgyu blinks, clearly taken aback, before his cheeks blossom with pink.

“Thanks,” he replies slowly. Taehyun smiles in response, eyes gentle, before quickly retracting his hands. 

“So when, uh...when did you write it?”

After a brief period of silence, Beomgyu looks down, biting his lip.

“I always had the melody, but—“ he starts, before he shuts right up, suddenly stiffening.

“What’s wrong?” Taehyun asks, raising his head, eyes concerned.

“Nothing,” the blond says suddenly, body language evasive.

“Are you sure?” 

When he receives no response, Taehyun merely bites his lip, before turning away. It was late, judging by the clearly marked figures on his bedside table clock, and he doesn’t think pressing the other any more at this point would do either of them any good. 

So instead he leans back onto his pillow and watches Beomgyu from his position, as the other stares wistfully out the window.

Taking in a deep breath, he feels fatigue gradually overcome him, eyelashes fluttering.

“Taehyun?” comes a voice into his subconscious.

“Yeah?” he replies, barely a murmur.

“Thanks for everything,” it responds gently, as he drifts away into sleep.

The last thing he recalls is the warmth, and the sound of rain.


	12. Chapter 12

Taehyun slowly blinks awake, bleary eyed and unaware of his surroundings, a dull ache in his back. He doesn’t feel clear-headed enough yet to properly register anything— can only see vague shapes through the haziness, but he knows something’s different.

It’s warm- entirely too warm, and his body feels heavy. And was that hair brushing against his neck? Had Hobak crawled into his bed by accident?

Still, he’s too comfortable to care, arm pulling the warmth closer, burying his nose into it. He curls in peacefully for a few minutes, breathing in its scent, until he startles in realisation that it’s most definitely _not_ his cat. 

With a jerk, he fully opens his eyes to find Beomgyu half-sprawled against him like a big dog, arm thrown over his waist and cheek cuddling against his chest. 

His hair is all mussed up across his forehead, his hoodie hiked halfway up his head and enveloping his frame. The sunlight illuminates each of his individual eyelashes, and his slightly parted mouth, taking deep breaths against his chest.

Oh god. What was happening?

In spite of all of the sirens blaring in his head, the elder looks so unguarded and relaxed like that, that Taehyun can’t bring himself to move from his position. His arm is warm against Taehyun’s waist, and his hair smells just like Taehyun’s fragrant shampoo, giving him a deadly taste into a life of domesticity he can’t help but melt into.

God, had he just said domesticity? 

Blinking rapidly, cheeks heating up, he shakes his head. No— they were just friends. 

Just like him and Hyuka.

It was the first time he had had a proper friend since Hyuka, so he must’ve been mixing up his own feelings.

Plus, it was weird to think about that sort of thing when said person was asleep.

_You liked him even before he was asleep though. All the way back to the first time you met him again on the school rooftop,_ a voice inside him says, and he firmly tells it to shut up. 

Heart pounding in his chest, he wonders what had happened last night to result in this- they had just been talking and…

Taehyun had fallen asleep.

Beomgyu must’ve followed suit shortly after, forgetting to move back onto his own mattress. 

He takes a deep breath, looking down again at the elder’s sleeping face, cuddled against him like some kind of human teddy bear, before looking back up at the ceiling, heart racing.

Alright, so maybe Beomgyu was kind of cute.

When he was asleep, really. And when he was awake too. Some of the time. Most of the time.

And maybe his bluntness and brash nature was kind of refreshing at times— especially at times when Taehyun wasn’t too sure of himself or what to think, acting as a sort of anchor. 

And when he really thought about it, the elder was kind of thoughtful as well, always making sure Taehyun wasn’t overworking himself, even though he would never admit it aloud. And he always ate Taehyun’s food without complaint, making sure to polish off the entire lunchbox, before helping him pack up.

And sometimes when it was just the both of them, whether lying peacefully on the school rooftop, or sitting across from each other in the classroom, Beomgyu would smile up at him, and Taehyun’s heart would skip a beat. 

With a groan, Taehyun covers his eyes with his arm.

Was this really it? Did he actually have a crush on Choi Beomgyu?

_You’re just mixing your feelings up. You’ve just had so little friends that you don’t know the difference between friendship and romance,_ he tells himself, swallowing.__

_ _It was true— he had never felt any kind of attraction before; he had admired a few celebrities, but never in a real way. Nothing as intense as he was feeling now._ _

_ _At the commotion inside his heart, he doesn’t register the other blinking awake, until he feels the other move, and the sleepy question of, “Taehyun?”_ _

_ _He freezes, meeting Beomgyu’s confused eyes._ _

_ _They stare at each other for a few moments, Beomgyu’s arm still wrapped around him, and head resting against the blankets, before Taehyun comes to._ _

_ _He quickly sits up, almost throwing the blond off his chest with the sheer force of his movement, forcing him to prop his arms up on either side of him, eyes widening in alarm._ _

_ _“Sorry!” he calls out._ _

_ _Somehow it makes things worse, with Beomgyu effectively trapping him in place like some kind of upside down kabedon, and he stares up into the elder’s wide eyes, heart racing._ _

_ _“You—“ Beomgyu starts, voice scratchy and deep from having just woken up, and Taehyun feels his cheeks flare up._ _

_ _Then the door bursts open, and Taehyun’s mom appears with a smile, before immediately turning back around at the sight, voice high pitched._ _

_ _“So sorry! I’ll come back later!” she calls, slamming the door shut again. _ _

_ _At the unexpected entrance, they stare at each other, mortified, before quickly disentangling themselves._ _

_ _“Oh my god, I am so sorry, that wasn’t—“ Taehyun starts, to which the blond holds out a hand himself, the other over his face._ _

_ _“Shut up. Just- be quiet,” he groans, before taking a deep breath, looking up at the ceiling._ _

_ _Taehyun obliges, picking at his blankets._ _

_ _After a moment of silence, Beomgyu turns to him, blond hair sticking up in all directions._ _

_ _“That was a pretty shit way to introduce myself to her, wasn’t it?” he breathes out, eyes golden under the sunlight._ _

_ _Lips quirking up at the other’s attempt to liven up the conversation, Taehyun shakes his head._ _

_ _“She’ll live.”_ _

_ _After a few awkward moments, Beomgyu finally gets up with a stretch, before looking around the room. He then turns towards Taehyun, slightly unsure._ _

_ _“Look, I uh…I didn’t mean to stay in your bed last night,” he says, tone unmistakably uncomfortable. _ _

_ _Eyes wide, Taehyun takes in the distance between them, pausing for a second, before rubbing the back of his neck with a flat smile, trying not to feel too hurt._ _

_ _“It’s alright. You’re just lucky I didn’t kick you by mistake,” he jokes easily, the mask slipping into place almost like a second skin._ _

_ _At this, Beomgyu only nods, before looking to the side. _ _

_ _“There’s a spare toothbrush pack in the cupboard under the sink,” Taehyun supplies helpfully, to which the elder smiles awkwardly in reply. _ _

_ _“Thanks,” he responds, before leaving._ _

_ _Taehyun flops back down onto his bed, mind filled entirely with static._ _

_ _**_ _

_ _They eventually go down for breakfast, joining Hueningkai and Taehyun’s mother, who seems to have recovered, not mentioning anything about the earlier scenario._ _

_ _Taehyun greatly appreciates it, because he doesn’t know how he would handle that conversation, especially in front of everyone else. He could only hope that she had dismissed it as some sort of horseplay, for his benefit._ _

_ _Looking around at all of the additional bowls of food at the table, a full array of galbi, stewed fish, bean sprout and kimchi, Taehyun smiles to himself at his mother’s clear attempt to impress Beomgyu. For all his dryness about her overbearing nature, he really appreciated her efforts._ _

_ _Eyes scanning the table, Beomgyu himself seems to have a renewed appetite, more relaxed around everyone than normal, in spite of the awkwardness that had transpired earlier that morning. _ _

_ _Taehyun doesn’t know whether it was because it was still early in the morning, or because he knew them a little better, but he’s grateful either way._ _

_ _“Taste good, Beomgyu dear?” his mother asks kindly, a smile playing on her lips at his enthusiasm._ _

_ _Looking up with pink tinged ears, the blond only nods, meek._ _

_ _“If you like this, you should try Taehyun’s cooking,” his mother says jokingly, before Hueningkai turns to her, a shit-eating grin on his face._ _

_ _Taehyun closes his eyes._ _

_ _“He already has,” the younger says, pointing a fork at the blonde._ _

_ _“What?” _ _

_ _His mother turns to the younger, surprised._ _

_ _“Taehyunnie made lunch for Beomgyu hyung for almost two months straight,” Hueningkai bats his eyelashes, earning a stern look from the elder._ _

_ _“I was just practising,” Taehyun says calmly, face neutral. The younger doesn’t let it go though, and continues waggling his eyebrows._ _

_ _He kicks him under the table._ _

_ _“Is that so?” his mother finally asks after the squabble has died down, eyes analytical, before turning to Beomgyu._ _

_ _“Cooking is the one area my son feels he doesn’t excel in. How would _you_ rate my son’s cooking, knowing his ongoing pursuit for perfection?” she asks, a sort of challenging smile on the corner of her lips. Taehyun’s blood pressure suddenly spikes._ _

_ _Raising his head in surprise, Beomgyu suddenly meets Taehyun’s eyes, curious. He then contemplates the question for a while, before shrugging his shoulders with a sort of nonchalance. _ _

_ _Taehyun blinks._ _

_ _“’S alright I guess,” he says, stabbing a piece of stewed fish into his mouth. _ _

_ _A moment of silence passes, before Taehyun’s mother bursts into laughter, and Taehyun notes Beomgyu crack a mischievous smile as well._ _

_ _“Wow, tough crowd huh, Taehyunnie?” Hueningkai claps his hands._ _

_ _“What is this, pick on Taehyun day?” Taehyun complains, albeit smiling himself. He runs a hand through his hair._ _

_ _Suddenly, everything seems easy; comfortable._ _

_ _That is, until he looks directly into Beomgyu’s eyes again, and the smile slips off. _ _

_ _“I should get going,” Beomgyu suddenly says, standing up quickly._ _

_ _“So soon?” Taehyun’s mother looks up in surprise._ _

_ _“My…my dad's probably waiting for me,” Beomgyu replies, averting his eyes. At the look, Taehyun’s mother merely purses her lips, before nodding._ _

_ _“Alright then. Should we come by to drop off your uniform or—?” she asks, before his head snaps up._ _

_ _“No! I mean…I can just collect it from Taehyun at school on Monday, if that’s alright,” he says, turning to look nervously at the younger._ _

_ _Taehyun raises his head, surprised. _ _

_ _“That’s alright with me. I don’t mind coming earlier by the gates,” he nods slowly, before setting down his fork._ _

_ _“Thanks. I’ll just- I’ll just get my things,” Beomgyu nods, before packing up his bag and rushing off with only a small jerk of his head in acknowledgement. _ _

_ _As the front door closes shut, the three of them look at each other awkwardly, before resuming with their eating._ _

_ _“I sure hope that boy’s okay,” Taehyun’s mother frowns, reaching over to help herself to some bean sprouts. _ _

_ _Taehyun only bites his lip, wondering what had happened. Was it something he had said? Had the teasing at the table been too much? Or was it merely just his worries about his father that had chased him away?_ _

_ _For all his pride in his analytical skills, Taehyun finds that he can’t tell at all._ _

_ _As he finishes up his meal, offering to clean up the table, it dawns upon him that the elder had rushed off in his hoodie without realising. _ _

Huh.

_ _Curling his fingers against his heart, he can’t help but think that at least Beomgyu had something to remember him by, even if just for a weekend._ _


	13. Chapter 13

He thinks about it all weekend— his sudden revelation about his feelings towards Beomgyu.

In all honesty, he thinks that probably it had been in the back of his mind for a long time.

The way his heart spiked around the other was most certainly not normal, after all— nor the way he constantly wanted to reach out to the other, when he had typically never been one to outwardly show affection.

But since when?

Since when had he developed these feelings towards the elder?

Taehyun honestly doesn’t know how to answer that— can’t even pinpoint it to any specific moment, really. Only knows that it frightens him more than it should, being entirely clueless about something for once in his life. 

He had always been one to be ready with an answer, prepared for any kind of situation with his careful actions and watchful eyes. But now his mind was a mess, clambering around with a myriad of red alerts screaming that _yes_, he might want to hold Beomgyu’s hand, and _no_, he doesn’t know what it means.

So when Monday finally comes around and he’s standing in front of the school gates with Beomgyu’s neatly folded uniform in hand, he’s nervous— more nervous than he’s ever been, fiddling with a piece of his hair, unsure how to act. 

_Stop overthinking. You’re only hurting yourself, _he tries to scold himself, mouth drawn tightly into a line. 

But he just can’t help it— suddenly everything seems foreign to him, strange and out of place, and he wonders how he had ever functioned around the elder before.

_You were just operating under that mask of yours. That’s how you did it,_ he thinks bitterly, before he stops, fingers tightening their hold over Beomgyu’s clothes.

No— that wasn’t right, was it? That had only been at the beginning— but everything from that second meeting onwards had been all him. 

The arguing, the teasing, the shoving, the snappishness after long nights of no rest, the endless excited chattering about a recent book he had just read— it was all him.

And Beomgyu had never once complained about it.

Cheeks slowly blossoming with red, Taehyun looks down at the ground, trying to understand what it all meant. Why had the other put up with him like that? 

A shadow suddenly falls over him, interrupting his thoughts, and he quickly looks up, alarmed.

The world seems to stop for just a moment.

Beomgyu stands in front of him, ethereal, blond hair cast over his red-brown eyes, dressed in a simple black jacket, thrown over a t-shirt and jeans. It’s the first time he’s ever seen him dressed so casually, aside from when he had been in Taehyun’s own hoodie, and there’s something so fundamentally different about him that Taehyun doesn’t know how to react.

He looks cool— intimidating almost, the sun casting shadows behind him, and Taehyun’s heart can’t help but flutter.

“Hey,” the blond says quietly.

Taehyun instinctively holds out his uniform, not trusting his voice enough to speak.

Looking down, slightly surprised, Beomgyu pauses momentarily before nodding his head in silent thanks. He chews his lip with a furrowed brow. 

“Sorry I made you come out to meet me so early.”

The words are delivered with a sort of abruptness, but Taehyun knows somehow that it’s not directed at him. Expression easing slightly, Taehyun merely shakes his head, waving his hand in what he hopes is a placating gesture.

“It’s alright. I’m used to waking up early anyway,” he replies quietly, hoping his nervousness doesn’t show through.

At this, Beomgyu kicks slightly at the ground, seeming to look everywhere but Taehyun. His expression looks somehow even more downcast than before, and it sends a jolt of panic through the younger.

_Oh, was that the wrong response?_ Taehyun thinks, rooted to the spot.

“Beomgyu hyung, I—“

“Listen, can we just forget about what happened the other day?” Beomgyu asks, finally looking up into Taehyun’s eyes.

Taehyun freezes, unsure what to do.

Forget…about it?

Did he mean when they woke up in the same bed? Or before that?

Whatever the answer was, Taehyun already feels sick to his stomach. Had the elder somehow found out about his feelings towards him?

Was this his way of trying to break things off between them?

“Oh, um…” he starts, before trailing off. He doesn’t know how to finish his sentence, guilt and panic eating away at him.

So he doesn’t.

Suddenly, Beomgyu’s frown deepens.

“Hey…it’s not about you, alright?”

Taehyun doesn’t know how to respond— just continues to stand there, uncomprehending.

“I just hate what I’m like when I’m around my dad, and I don’t…I don’t want you to remember me like that,” Beomgyu explains, eyes flashing. 

Taehyun blinks. 

Oh.

_Oh._

“Oh no I…I wasn’t going to bring that up,” he shakes his head, trying not make the relief evident on his face at what the other had meant. Beomgyu stares.

“I mean, well I _was_ worried, but I figured you wouldn’t want me bringing that up, especially at school and—“ he blurts out, before snapping his mouth shut.

When had he suddenly become such a blabbermouth? His cheeks colour at the uncharacteristic outburst.

“Alright,” Beomgyu says quietly, before finally cracking into a smile.

Surprised, Taehyun stares back. Then he smiles too.

“Alright,” he mirrors.

“I forgot to bring your hoodie,” Beomgyu suddenly speaks up, after a moment of silence.

Blinking, Taehyun stares at the elder’s empty hands, before trying to stifle a laugh. 

Was that really what the other was worried about at the moment?

“That’s alright. You can keep it,” he shrugs.

Beomgyu raises an eyebrow.

“You know how I feel about returning favours,” he says dryly, although his eyes reflect a sort of mischievous glint. 

“Don’t think of it as a favour. If anything, you’re doing me a favour by getting rid of it,” Taehyun insists back. Beomgyu stares at him for a few seconds, eyes challenging, before he backs down with a huff of laughter.

“Alright. Since I’m such a nice guy.”

The words are delivered in a slightly mocking tone, but Taehyun only stands there, smiling.

“You are,” he replies with earnest, to which the blond looks back at him, surprised.

“You thanked me the other night. When you thought I was asleep,” he explains.

Beomgyu pauses, hesitant, before his cheeks flush scarlet at the memory. His fingers clench visibly at his side.

“You heard?”

Rolling his eyes, Taehyun bumps the elder’s shoulder with a grin.

“Of course I heard- I was in the same room as you. Don’t tell me you’re shy now?” he asks teasingly, to which Beomgyu scoffs, rolling his own eyes.

“Don’t be a dick,” he replies, before smiling back gradually, the tension from the days before slowly ebbing away.

Suddenly, they hear the distant chatter of school students arriving on the grounds, and they both get off the gate, startled.

“I should go change before class,” Beomgyu says quickly, before tucking the uniform underneath his arm. Nodding vehemently, Taehyun takes a step back, straightening out his blazer.

“Of course.”

Before he leaves, the blond throws a hand up in a sort of half-hearted wave, before disappearing into the distance.

Arm extended in a wave that the other never sees, Taehyun slowly lowers his hand.

“See you,” he says to no-one in particular, before digging it into his pocket.

Damn it.

**

When lunch time finally rolls around, Taehyun quickly shoots out of his seat to buy a juice at the vending machine, hoping to avoid being left alone with Beomgyu if for some reason it came to be that the blond arrived first without Hyuka.

Taehyun doesn’t know how he would handle it.

It wasn’t that they had parted ways on bad terms or anything— just the opposite, in fact, but his new hyper-awareness of the other is enough to warrant needing a little space. He couldn’t risk the other finding out about his feelings, no matter how confusing they were to even himself. 

Stalling for time, milling around the vending machine, he’s surprised when he’s suddenly approached by a group of girls, all giggling and pushing at each other like they have a secret. 

Blinking, he looks around him, but finds no-one else they could possibly be directing their attention towards.

“Kang Taehyun, right?” one of the girls speaks up, and he stares back for a moment, blank, before his face morphs into a kind and easy smile.

“That’s me. How can I help?” he asks, taking his juice, to which they all giggle excitedly among themselves. 

“You’re close friends with Choi Beomgyu aren’t you? It’s kind of the talk of the school lately,” the main girl grins, leaning forward.

Taehyun pauses momentarily at this, before shrugging his shoulders with a smile.

He was used to this— being asked about Beomgyu. Even if it was the last thing he wanted to talk about at the moment, he was never one to refuse helping someone out.

“I know him,” he decides to reply neutrally. 

“More than know him! I heard that you came to school together!” one of the other girls shrieks excitedly, before being hushed down.

Blinking, Taehun wonders how the word had gotten out so fast, when he was almost entirely sure that they had been alone before the sound of students came piling in.

Cautiously, Taehyun leans against the vending machine.

“No, I just met him to return his uniform,” he replies.

“So you were with him when he took it off? Did he come to your house?” the girls shriek excitedly.

Taehyun’s eyebrows furrow at this, wondering whether he had buried himself too deep this time. 

“Oh, well yeah…” he replies hesitantly, rubbing the back of his neck.

“You _have_ to help us out, then!” the main girl beams, grabbing his free hand. Surprised, he almost jerks back instinctively, when he realises she means no harm, and he relaxes. 

Right. This was normal.

“Sure,” he says instead with a nod.

It was always the usual— girls asking whether Beomgyu was dating anyone at the moment, or whether Taehyun would put in a good word for them.

And it was always the same— Taehyun smiling graciously, and later surreptitiously dropping names into his conversations with Beomgyu if only out of the need to clear his conscience— then Beomgyu making fun of him every time, rolling his eyes at the string of girls and boys all desperate to chase after his image. 

Mostly, Taehyun would feel bad for the candidates— but then he would smile at the mischievous twinkle in the elder’s eye, and know that none of them would be able to handle him anyway.

He had tried to convince himself the rejections were a good thing, for their sake.

“Well do you know if Beomgyu likes anyone right now?” the girl finally asks, wide eyed, cutting into Taehyun’s thoughts.

Blinking, he stares back.

He had always been asked whether Beomgyu had a girlfriend before, but never whether Beomgyu himself had liked anyone.

He pauses.

Had he?

It didn’t seem like he did. Or at least, Beomgyu had never shown any signs of liking anyone— could barely even talk to another person aside from himself or Hueningkai, let alone have an active crush on anyone. 

But to admit that would open him up to more potential advances on him, and Taehyun doesn’t know how he would feel about that.

Still, he doesn’t know how he’d feel ruining Beomgyu’s chances by lying, so he tells the truth.

“No,” he says, his tongue feeling heavy in his mouth. 

“Do you think you could give him my number, then?” the girl asks, almost immediately. 

Almost robotically, Taehyun smiles— had done this many times before, ever the polite gentleman, but his heart burns as he takes the slip of paper into his hands.

What was happening to him?

“Of course,” he says with practiced ease. They laugh and giggle, looks of gratitude across their faces, and he realises with a dull ache that it’s not their faults— he could account first hand how difficult it was not to fall in love with Choi Beomgyu.

After his response, they all immediately disperse, like fragments of his imagination— only one girl staying behind to give him a second look— before leaving him standing alone with his drink and the slip of paper. 

He bites his lip as he falls back on the wall, trying to clear his mind.

It never used to bother him this much when he had passed along numbers and love notes before. He would feel a little sting at the back of his heart sometimes, but he had always assumed that it was nothing more than a slight irritation at the multitude of people coming to bother him for the elder’s hand. 

But he supposed that it was different now that he had actually come to terms with his feelings— the emotional consequences of every decision now amplified by a thousand.

Because what was he supposed to do?

Smile and wave and give the number to Beomgyu like he always did, even though the other would undoubtedly see straight through his mask?

Or keep the number in his pocket, holding onto it forever so as to keep the other to himself?

He lets out a frustrated sigh, before running a hand through his hair. 

No— he wasn’t that selfish. He would be stupid to think that he would ever have a chance over the other girls vying for the elder’s attention, when he was just…Taehyun.

Just Taehyun. 

He hesitantly takes out the slip of paper again, turning it absent-mindedly in his hand, before pausing. 

There was a message on the back. 

_Dear Beomgyu-ssi, thank you for helping me out the other day. I really enjoy our conversations and I’d be happy if you gave me a call ♡ - Jiyoung._

Blinking, Taehyun takes a moment to register the words, before it properly hits him. The confessor actually _knew_ Beomgyu. Had spoken to him. 

He doesn’t know what to think— had never considered that Beomgyu was actually making more friends and interacting with more people now, and he swallows. Would this change things? Would Beomgyu finally accept the confession for once?

He blinks— once, then twice, before walking back to the classroom in a daze. 

As he enters, he sees Beomgyu sitting there, clearly trying to hide his smile after being told a joke by Hueningkai, before his eyes sweep over to meet Taehyun’s across the room, and he sits a little straighter.

“Taehyun-ah!” Hueningkai calls, once he turns around, beckoning him over with a grin. 

Walking over, Taehyun smiles, before taking a seat. 

He sits quietly, as Hueningkai launches into a long and excited speech about his day, and while he would have normally listened fondly, this time he finds that he just can’t. 

The slip of paper in his pocket burns away at him, weighing him down like shackles keeping him chained to his prescribed duty.

Somewhere down the line, he feels a leg bump against his own, and his eyes come back into focus, snapping up to see Beomgyu’s own staring at him with a look of concern.

Taehyun blinks, clearly startled, before pursing his lips. 

After the other furrows his eyebrows slightly, leg bumping into his own again, he looks down, flustered and heart pounding, fingers clenched white. 

What was the other doing? There was no way he could give him the number if he was being so achingly _adorable_ right now.

Taehyun closes his eyes.

God, had he really just thought that?

When Hueningkai finally leaves to go on a toilet break, he stands up with a tight smile.

“I have to go get a drink.”

“You already have a drink,” the blond comments with a raised eyebrow.

“Well I need to get another one,” he insists, before Beomgyu’s arm catches his own.

He turns back, surprised.

“Tell me what I did wrong,” Beomgyu says with a frown. Taehyun looks down, blinking.

“Nothing,” he replies. And he means it. 

The situation was entirely his own fault, and getting away from the other had been the only way to rid himself of his problematic thoughts— still, he realises that he can't say or do anything without revealing the true reason behind his behaviour, so he merely stands there, unmoving.

“Do you really think I don’t know when you’re lying?” Beomgyu asks, eyes hardening, and for the first time, Taehyun inexplicably feels _relief_ at someone having seen past his mask.

But as soon as that relief had come, it fades, turning into a sort of coldness that he wants to barricade himself in. He yanks his arm from Beomgyu’s grip.

“Well if you’re so good at reading me, why don’t you figure it out yourself?” he almost demands, before biting his lip. No— it wasn’t fair to Beomgyu. 

He sits down instead.

“Alright, I’m sorry,” he says calmly, folding his arms across the table. Beomgyu stares back at him for a moment, before his eyes soften.

“Listen, if it’s still about that day—” he starts, before Taehyun cuts him off.

“No, it’s not about that! I’m just kind of confused right now,” he says, shaking his head.

“Confused about what?” the elder asks back, eyebrows furrowed.

Taehyun opens his mouth to speak, before closing it again.

A silence passes.

“Look, I don’t know why you’re acting so weird right now, but y’know you can always talk to me, right? I’m…I’m not the best at talking, but I’m here. Me and Hyuka both,” Beomgyu says.

At this, Taehyun’s eyes widen.

Oh god. Oh no. 

Looking down at the table, he tries to push down his blush, but he can’t stop it from spreading across his face like an uncontrolled flame.

Why now? Why did that idiot delinquent have to go all soft and sentimental on him _now_ of all times?

“Yeah. I got it, thanks,” he tries to say jokingly, but it only comes out as strange and choked.

Suddenly, he hears Hueningkai enter the room, and he’s grateful for the intrusion into the conversation, to cut the awkwardness.

“Hey, what’s going on here?” Hueningkai asks, eyes flickering between the two of them.

“You know Beomgyu hyung calls you Hyuka, now?” Taehyun blurts out suddenly.

Eyes widening, Hueningkai turns towards Beomgyu, who looks entirely betrayed.

“Wait, really? Aw, you really _are_ warming up to me!—“ Hueningkai starts, before being pushed off dramatically by a flustered Beomgyu.

“Wait no— you’re dead, Taehyun!”

At this, Taehyun can’t help but laugh at the ridiculousness, feeling a rush of warmth flow through him.

It’s at that moment, with Beomgyu arguing with Hyuka across the table, collar slightly rumpled, knee bumping against Taehyun’s own, that he realises right then and there what he needs to do.

He sticks out the slip of paper.

Blinking, Beomgyu looks down at it, caught half-way through his fight, before looking back up at Taehyun.

“What’s this?” he asks.

“A girl told me to pass this on to you,” Taehyun says carefully, trying his best not to let anything show. It’s dumb— he knows this, because Beomgyu has always been good at reading him. 

But he cares too much about Beomgyu to act selfishly— to keep him all to himself.

So he chooses the best moment— one of his fondest of the other, to leave behind as a lasting impression before he finally lets the elder go.

And waits.

Slowly, Beomgyu takes it, turning it over, before finally putting it in his pocket with a nod.

“Alright,” is all he says.

Nothing more— no protests, or snarky comments about how he could care less about the strange crowd that admired and followed him.

No eye rolls or dry remarks, or even an indifferent shrug of his shoulders.

Taehyun blinks.

Really? Was this the one?

“Alright,” he smiles hollowly back.

At the end of the day, he walks home quickly, trying his best to shield his expression from Hueningkai’s prying eyes.

He smiles and engages in the younger’s jokes as necessary, but he feels like it’s not enough, the tension clear in his entire face and body. He feels exposed— like someone had ripped the seams straight out from his carefully constructed mask, and he hates it.

Hyuka doesn’t say anything about it— just pats him kindly once on the shoulder, before changing direction to his own house. But he doesn’t need to say anything, really.

Taehyun goes home and heads straight to his bed, head resting against the pillow, mind clouded with thoughts. 

He wasn’t special to Beomgyu— may possibly never have been, but he doesn’t fault him for it.

It was just a fact that he had to accept.

Still, for all of his years of being emotionless, his heart breaks for the first time.


	14. Chapter 14

It’s strange to think that he had once believed he truly understood Beomgyu, with his weighted past and iron walls, brought down only for Taehyun through gentle eyes and unintentionally coarse words.

But it’s even stranger to think that he could ever really get over him, like trying to forget the image of colour after living his whole life in black and white. Dull and empty.

Still, it’s something he’s used to— moving quickly on, and he thinks with a sort of determination that this shouldn’t be too different.

Except it is, he realises, after a long few weeks of suffering, trying to keep his distance. 

Because everything about Beomgyu is beautiful— _stern_, but beautiful, like a marble statue, moss and flowers softening its edges over time. Taehyun can’t help but be drawn to him, watching him day by day, travelling over the soft lines of his face, the strong slope of his nose, and into those mesmerising eyes that seemingly made the world fade away for just a moment.

But it’s not the only thing— no, he would have preferred it if that had been all. He hates that there’s nothing he can fault at all about the other— his brashness, his unrefined way of speaking, his lack of fear about speaking his mind— they’re all things Taehyun finds impossibly and maddeningly endearing, and he doesn’t know what to do about it.

He spends the next few weeks drifting away in a strange, watery state, wondering how to bury his feelings for the other, when he’s forced to spend so much time around him. 

Then one day the answer finally comes— as Hueningkai comes barrelling into the classroom with an over-eager smile on his face, Beomgyu trailing just a few steps behind, lips barely moving as he walks in tandem with a girl at his side.

His heart instantly plummets. 

Jiyoung.

The name is ingrained in Taehyun’s mind.

She’s pretty, just as he remembered, with long brown hair and doe-shaped eyes.

Her smile is almost overwhelmingly infectious, belied with a sense of ease that Taehyun can only apprehend with a sinking stomach.

So this was real? The infamously elusive Beomgyu had really taken her up on her offer?

With watchful eyes, he takes in the frown gracing the elder’s features as he listens, and his fidgeting fingers. But by the end, when she pats him on the head with a wink, he holds onto it, cheeks reddening the exact same way as they had done when Taehyun had first met him. 

He doesn’t know how to react.

He only barely manages to look away as the elder enters the classroom, taking a quiet seat at the table with a barely intelligible grunt.

He says nothing about the girl, and Taehyun can only do the same. His poor heart can only race, his mind going into overdrive. 

From then on, the routine repeats every few days or so, with the girl walking Beomgyu over each time, with that same teasing smile on her face, and the same blush gracing his own. 

But the elder never makes any mention of the note nor the girl, leaving Taehyun wondering if it was simply because it was no longer his business, and that their bond had carried itself outside of the classroom, almost like a mockery to his feelings. 

It carves the pain deeper into his heart.

Swallowing down his pride, he thinks that all he can do, really, is watch like he always does— watch the sunlight fall within the other’s eyes, and the gentle curve of his lips. Watch those deft fingers run through soft strands, making him think back to a simpler time when they had been his own.

Then the fact that new hands had now found their home there, burning at the memory like an open flame.

But he supposes it makes it easier for him to distance himself from the other— to pretend that he’s already taken, out of reach. 

It’s much easier than to face the reality that he would never have had a chance anyway.

**

_Crash._

Beomgyu lies there on his single bed, holding his hand up to the ceiling as the sound of bottles collide in the background, watching the way the hoodie sleeve falls down his arm.

It’s mesmerising, the way it slips down, like a gentle touch.

He parts his lips, drifting away, before he winces at the distant cursing downstairs, and he frowns, gritting his teeth. No— it couldn’t be directed at him.

If there was one thing he knew, it was that the man was easily distracted— easy to anger, and quick to move, but easily distracted. He wouldn’t bother with Beomgyu if he wasn’t in his direct line of sight.

Oh how things had changed since their household became just the two of them.

He doesn’t remember falling into the easy bitterness and hesitation as he did now back then— he had always been a difficult child, sure, but he remembers a time when he had been happy.

For his birthday, his father would buy him a toy race-car, and his mother would sweep him into her arms and rest him on her knee, peppering his face with kisses.

But then he became older, and his mother became sicker, and all that was left of her memory was a grip on his hand, and a promise whispered through her feeble lips. 

To be good. To love and be loved.

That he was worth doing so.

The years following her death almost seemed impossible.

He began to stir up more trouble, and his father began to drink more. They clashed irreparably, arguing day and night, until his father had taken matters into his own hands, leaving him unable to attend school for the first few days, for all of his experience at fighting and provocation. 

The memory burns like acid in his head, and leaves a bitter taste in his mouth. 

He turns to his side and curls into its warmth, taking in the comforting scent of laundry detergent and cedar— the very smell he had gotten used to many days in a row, spent drifting to sleep in a gentle lap, the world at his fingertips.

Beomgyu lets out a huff of laughter, before resting his arm over his eyes.

What a small comfort it provided, in the grand scheme of things. But what a comfort it was.

“Keep it,” he had remembered Taehyun saying, with an almost childishly challenging look in his eyes. What an enigma that boy was.

From the moment they had met, Beomgyu hadn’t known what to make of him.

Those kind, gentle words and that disarming smile, paired along with the calculatedness of his actions, and caution— he had known from the very beginning that perhaps the younger wasn’t all what he had appeared to be. 

It had been something he had noticed from even before they had properly met— the quiet prince-like figure that roamed the halls, who although didn’t seem like much, had caught Beomgyu’s eye; once kneeling down to help a girl pick up some dropped papers, like a prince sinking to his knees. 

Beomgyu had stared, momentarily caught in the perfect scene, before shaking it off, not caring enough to stick around. It was a vision too disparate from the ugliness of his own world, anyhow.

Then they had met properly for the first time after school, the boy carefully approaching him as he drained all of the water out of his uniform.

There had been a thunderstorm that afternoon, merciless in its force. By some mysterious stroke of misfortune, he had forgotten to bring his umbrella— the misfortune being that he had never really owned one to begin with, but he hadn’t particularly cared.

It was just another day- another afternoon spent waiting somewhere- _anywhere_ that wasn’t home.

But he remembers looking over, and startling at seeing the boy up close— all wide, hazel-shaped eyes, soft hair and soft lips; more like a painting than a real person. Then startling moreso at the fact that no-one had been kind enough to stop by except the boy.

But he hadn’t wanted it— had despised it, in fact. Because why was this boy suddenly showing up now? Why did he care about Beomgyu when seemingly nobody did for such a long time?

He wanted to be spiteful. To push the other away.

But somehow, the boy had been unnervingly calm, as if sensing that pity wasn’t what he wanted or needed. The sharing of his blazer— the gentle pull of fingers around his shoulders, and the firmness in his eyes had been strangely genuine to him. He had been so collected, yet witty and sharp tongued at the same time, and Beomgyu hadn’t known what to make of it. He had accepted it without even thinking. 

Then they had met once again on the school rooftop.

By then Beomgyu had begun to think there was some kind of plan behind it all— like the kind boy was somehow a decoy employed to scope out his weaknesses. Because all he had ever known was that there could never be anything good in his life, no matter how brief.

But the boy had seemingly been surprised by his appearance himself, and somehow, before he knew it, he was sharing a lunch with him— with the prince-like figure, who upon closer inspection, turned out to be just a regular kid like himself.

With a huff of laughter, he had remembered thinking that the food was mediocre— nothing special, really. But he could taste the heart and soul put into it, and strangely, it had made Beomgyu homesick, despite spending most days wishing he didn’t have to go home. 

It was a proper meal.

The next few days had surprisingly begun to look up. His father had largely ignored him when he came home, and his grades actually begun to raise, now that he had the will to put energy into them.

At the centre of it all was Taehyun, with his knowing eyes and quiet smile, sitting miles away, yet feeling so achingly close. He had wondered why this boy was so lonely— had no-one else he would rather be around, when he was so different to Beomgyu. 

Still, he didn’t question it. Somehow, he held onto the small shrapnel of hope that Taehyun hadn’t seen the monster in him that everyone else seemed to see, tearing at flesh and bone until nothing worth salvaging was left.

But then it came. 

Walking home after school one day, he was finally confronted by the accumulated days spent goading and feeding into Jinkyung’s spite and hatred, culminating in a bloody crack of fists and white-hot pain.

Defending himself was all he had convinced himself he had to do— and yet somehow, he had enjoyed fighting back. Wanted to hurt and bring pain to more than just Jinkyung, but his father, his school, and everything else that had caused him suffering for so long. 

They had all been right, to some extent, after all. 

Although he was never one to initiate the fights, he had always finished them. The bloodbaths in Daegu were what had given him his reputation after all, even if he himself had come out of them more than a little damaged. He supposed they really weren’t the six on one fights that Taehyun had brought up, but they weren’t too far off the mark.

Still, that had all seemed worlds away, and he had kept his hands to himself ever since— hadn’t wanted to attach his name to trouble after all his father had gone through to transfer him out. Hadn’t wanted to ruin what good Taehyun saw in him, sending him running off like all of the others had done. 

But somehow Taehyun still never left. He had sat Beomgyu down and tended to his wounds, eyes flashing in a way that made the elder sorry, thinking about the promise he had made his mother. 

The beating he had received the very same night, after the news had come crawling to his door like a foul stench, had reminded him of that just the same. Still, it was the soft look in the younger boy’s eyes that had stood out to him most of all, like a bright star in the night, making him think that perhaps his mother had been right.

Perhaps people did care about him. 

Perhaps he was worth loving, and being loved.

Shortly after, he had then met Hueningkai, who by some extension of the already annoyingly saintly Taehyun, was even more blindly bright, pulling Beomgyu forward like it was second nature. 

Like he had somehow belonged all this time. 

It had been strange to spend his time with others for once, unsure what to do and how to act. But Taehyun had been there like an anchor, with his knowing eyes and mischievous smile, and he knew somehow that things were going to be alright.

_“You’re just a kid responding to a difficult situation, and it’s in no way your fault, you understand?”_

Lying on his bed, thoughts stewing in his mind, he holds out a piece of paper in his hand, turning it over and over. 

Jiyoung, huh?

He had barely even glanced at the writing, out of disinterest in who the next potential candidate vying for his attention was, but the curiosity had gotten a hold of him.

He had seen the way Taehyun looked in the classroom, eyes tight and body language stiff, and decided not to be his snarky, brash self for one moment, instead slipping the note into his pocket. 

But looking at it again later the following night, he can’t recall who this girl could possibly be— had never seen her around Taehyun before, to warrant such a reaction from him. And Beomgyu certainly didn’t have the mental capacity to keep track of every single girl that ever talked to him.

So why had Taehyun given it to him?

Twisting the piece of paper around his fingers, he wonders what he should do with it. Should he give her a call? Maybe she could offer some explanation as to what was happening. No— what if this was all some elaborate ruse to get Taehyun’s attention?

With a sigh, he closes his eyes, thinking about the guitar he had played for Taehyun while lying on his bed. That night, he had shared a piece of his soul with the younger— with the lyrics he had written originally for his mother, before realising they had applied just the same for Taehyun. 

Like he was somewhere far that he could never reach.

Only this time, unlike his mother, Taehyun was actually here with him in the flesh. 

But he doesn’t know what to feel or do about it— the experience is entirely foreign. All he does know is that he never wants Taehyun to leave his side.

He wasn’t one to share.

Crumpling up the piece of paper with a curl of his lip, he finally decides to throw it in the trash, before rolling over on the bed.

His fingers curl around the hoodie sprawled out next to him, and he holds onto it like an anchor, eyes fluttering shut.

Somehow, it helps drown out the clanking of bottles from the floor below.


	15. Chapter 15

So Taehyun was avoiding him. That much was clear.

It doesn’t take long for Beomgyu to notice the changes— the strange stiffness in Taehyun’s body that doesn’t ever seem to fade away, his eyes and smile casting an emptiness that even their youngest seems to catch onto. 

His legs that stay properly tucked into his seat, no longer outstretched and bumping playfully against Beomgyu’s own. How he can’t even seem to look Beomgyu in the eye anymore, so vastly different from when they had first met, where every look had been calm and unflinching.

But what bothers him most is the question of _why_.

What exactly had Beomgyu done to make Taehyun change so quickly?

As the days pass, his desperation begins to increase— the visceral fear of the other slipping away from him pulling him in like quicksand.

He doesn’t know what to do.

Clenching his fingers, he thinks back to the last time he had brought something up to the younger, and the cold and stilted response he had received in reply— erased only by the sudden presence of Hueningkai onto the scene, where it had been swept hurriedly under the carpet and buried.

It had unexpectedly hurt.

Taehyun had always been one to mask his emotions, but never one to lie outright to Beomgyu— not with where they were in their familiarity with each other. Not when Taehyun knew that the elder could already see right past it. 

But he doesn’t say anything— knows that he would only screw things up even more.

He had had a lifetime enough of screw ups to know how dangerously that would turn out. 

So he can only watch as their interactions become shorter and shorter— with the younger always leaving whenever the maknae was no longer around to accompany them, spouting meaningless excuses to get away.

And with just as much masked indifference, Beomgyu allows it to happen— reminds himself that it would be cruel to force Taehyun to continue speaking with him when it was so clear that he no longer wanted to. 

He had never been one to beg love from anyone anyhow.

Instead, he holds his tongue— swallowing down his words like Taehyun had so teasingly taught him to do all those months ago, practising to himself as he trails behind the younger student council member each day before meeting up for lunch. 

Because it’s all he has, really. 

The only thing to remind himself that he was different now.

It’s why he doesn’t know how to recover when a firm grip pulls him to the side one day, breaking him out of his thoughts.

Shaking it off, he turns to level a harsh stare at the perpetrator, callous words loaded on his tongue like second nature, when he stops, losing his train of thought. 

The large doe-shaped eyes staring back at him strike him as vaguely familiar, but he can’t explain why— doesn’t say anything. 

Instead, he lets out a blunt, “What do you want?”

The girl in front of him blinks.

“Ah…it’s me, Jiyoung. I-I was the one that asked Taehyun to deliver you a note the other day,” she straightens quickly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

Beomgyu stops.

Jiyoung…?

Ah.

The catalyst for all of his recent problems. His expression flattens.

“Hyung? Are you coming?” Hueningkai asks from up ahead, cocking his head quizzically before noticing the girl standing in front of Beomgyu.

“Ah. I’ll go ahead first then,” he adds on, flustered, turning back around.

Clicking his tongue, Beomgyu turns to face the girl.

“What do you want?” 

Taken aback slightly, the girl plays with her fingers.

“Oh! W-well I was just wondering if you actually received my note?” she asks with a hesitant smile. When she doesn’t receive an immediate response back, she hurries along.

“I mean, I passed it on to Taehyun the other day but you didn’t really give me a response back,” she continues.

Feeling slightly ticked, Beomgyu digs his hands into his pockets.

How could she just stand by and talk about Taehyun so freely when Beomgyu himself could barely manage to get more than a few words out of him each day?

What kind of relationship did they have?

“I did receive it,” he says finally, inserting a little more poison into his tone than strictly necessary, if only out of some kind of childish petulance.

Head snapping up quickly, the girl’s smile falters.

“Really? Well why didn’t you call me?” she asks.

“Why would I? I don’t know you.”

Momentarily, Beomgyu wonders if he’s being too harsh— if he should tone things down a little, if only out of an understanding of her unrequited feelings. 

But it was true— all of the faces around him lately had been nothing but a blur, the novelty of people actively speaking to him again having long worn off. Sure, he was no longer as irritable as he used to be, but it didn’t really mean much in the greater scheme of things— not when the only faces that really mattered to him lately were the two that he hand-picked to have lunch with every day.

Even the student council co-presidents were somewhat of a blur to him, although less so than the string of students approaching him daily, vying for his attention. 

Still, he feels a distant pang of regret at the girl’s expression, and sighs.

“Look, why bother with the note if you were just gonna come bother me anyway?” he asks finally, trying his best not to let his irritation show through. 

For a few moments, the girl is silent, taking in the words, before looking up with a trembling lip.

What?

Beomgyu’s frown immediately deepens.

“H-hey, I didn’t mean it. C’mon, don’t cry,” he starts, reaching forward awkwardly in an attempt to placate her.

When her lip only begins to tremble harder, he racks his head, thinking back to the ways he and Taehyun used to resolve things.

Remembering the gentle fingers running through his hair, and the unspoken words they used to share in looks over the table, he decides, _fuck it all_ and gives her a singular pat on the head. 

She blinks, clearly taken aback.

He stares back, equally alarmed.

A moment of silence passes between them, before the girl’s face screws up into a bout of laughter.

Beomgyu stands there, eyebrows furrowing.

“I didn’t really believe it at first, but it seems like they were right,” she giggles, shaking her head.

He blinks back, still uncomprehending.

“You have such a gap charm! All rough on the outside, but soft on the inside,” she says, eyes creasing. Distantly, he feels his cheeks heat up.

What the heck…? So had that all been an act?

“Huh? Who’s been talkin’ about me?” he scowls, backing off.

Too busy wiping away her tears, the girl doesn’t seem to notice his half-hearted attempts of intimidation.

“Everyone! Ever since Taehyun brought you into the classroom, everyone’s been asking about you,” she replies.

“Asking…about me?” Beomgyu repeats, frowning.

Sure, he’d expected a few stares here and there, but who exactly would they have been asking?

It’s not like anyone here actually _knew_ anything about him, except—

“Yes! Taehyun’s told us a lot of things about you,” the girl nods, beaming.

Startled, the blond takes a step forward.

“What?”

The girl involuntarily takes a step back, surprised.

“I-I mean, what’d he say?” Beomgyu amends with a cough, slightly embarrassed.

It was weird— surely she didn’t mean recently, right?

Taehyun didn’t even seem to look at him all that much these days, much less have the capacity to tell _others_ about him.

But since when had Taehyun been close enough to others to let them call on him so familiarly? And more importantly than that, why hadn’t Taehyun told him about these conversations?

“Well he told us that you weren’t really at all like the rumours, and that we should give you a chance,” the girl responds carefully.

Eyebrows knitting, Beomgyu’s fingers twitch at his sides. So had that been the main reason why everyone no longer maintained such a wide berth from him lately?

His mouth twists slightly, unsure how to feel about it.

“H-he also told us that he would help us if we ever wanted to talk to you.”

Surprised, Beomgyu stares back, taken off guard.

What?

Taehyun had really told them he would talk to the elder for them? 

Pausing slightly, he looks down. Why the hell would he do that when he knew Beomgyu didn’t _want_ to talk to anybody else?

“That’s why I was surprised you didn’t call back. I mean— I thought maybe he would have put in a good word for me or something,” the girl looks up at Beomgyu shyly, as if expecting.

At this, his expression pinches slightly. Huh.

“Why? Are you two that close?”

Eyes widening, the girl’s face colours for a moment, before she looks to the side, almost frustrated.

“Beomgyu-ssi, you’re really dense, aren’t you?” she asks, shaking her head with an exasperated smile.

Unsure how to respond, he only stares back at her.

“This isn’t about him. I like _you_,” she reaches forward, holding his arm with a small hand. 

Blinking, Beomgyu looks down, trying to concentrate on her— her words and expressions, her feelings, her desperation.

But all he can feel is a strange sense of relief. The one she liked wasn’t Taehyun.

She liked _him_.

So maybe it had all been a one-sided love on Taehyun’s end. And the reason he was so upset lately was because Beomgyu had presumably just taken away the girl he liked.

At the revelation, he covers his face with his other arm, before looking away, hoping to hide the blush on his face. 

So it wasn’t him. Taehyun didn’t hate _him_.

“Beomgyu…?” he hears the girl ask distantly, and he turns back, snapping to attention. 

Unclenching his fingers, Beomgyu rubs the back of his neck, wondering if all would be forgiven if he simply rejected this girl— if Taehyun would continue talking to him again, scolding him whenever he did something bad, and laughing at his blunt comments like usual.

Or maybe Taehyun would merely continue acting detached and quiet like he had always been these days.

What could he possibly do to achieve the least damage?

Drawing his mouth into a tight line, his eyes flicker back to the girl in front of him.

“‘M sorry,” he mumbles, the words feeling foreign on his tongue. Distantly, he realises that it’s the first time he’s ever apologised to a confession. 

Somehow, it doesn’t make him feel any better.

But he means it. 

_Sorry I was harsh to you just because I was jealous. You didn’t deserve that._

The girl stares back, immediately crestfallen.

Unsure what more to say, Beomgyu bows slightly awkwardly, before turning back around to leave. 

He makes it about a few steps, eyes trained on the door at the end of the corridor leading to Taehyun’s classroom, when the girl calls out again.

“Beomgyu, wait!”

He turns around.

With determined eyes, the girl balls up her fists, before speaking again.

“I— I know I’m not perfect! But I just need to know, what can I do to make you like me?”

Surprised, Beomgyu blinks.

Momentarily, he feels a sense of respect at her determination— unlike the other confessions he had received that either dissipated once the confessors came face to face with his foul mouth, or ended in tears or proclamations of anger. 

But he only purses his lips, keeping up an expression of neutrality.

“Nothing. I'm just not interested in all that.”

Face falling, the girl looks down. 

A moment of silence passes.

“No— I should’ve known,” she finally replies with a sigh of defeat.

Beomgyu furrows his eyebrows in confusion.

Should’ve known what?

“I’ll never compare with Kang Taehyun, will I?”

Freezing, Beomgyu stares back at her, unable to respond.

What?

“You like him,” she says, more of a statement than a question, as she moves closer.

He instinctively moves back. _What?_

His eyes flash momentarily towards the classroom door, where the younger would undoubtedly be waiting.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he replies with a frown, tongue heavy in his mouth.

The girl stares back at him, surprised. 

“What? Don’t tell me you haven’t come to terms with your feelings yet?”

_What is she—_

_No— why would she say something like that?_

“I don’t like Taehyun,” he snaps, eyes flashing.

Instinctively, the girl takes a step back.

His heart pounds, fingers clenching at his sides. 

“I don’t have…have _feelings_ for Taehyun,” Beomgyu gets out.

His fingers unclench. 

Did he?

No— Taehyun was just a friend.

Maybe not even one, judging by the standard of what people called ‘friendship’ these days. 

A presence, maybe, that had caught Beomgyu’s attention. A presence, maybe, that Beomgyu wanted to keep around for a while. And probably for a long time after that.

But he had never thought of the younger in that way before…dating and holding hands and what not. Even thinking about it was kind of gross; it made his heart pound uncomfortably fast, and his palms sweat. 

There was nothing attractive about Taehyun, anyhow.

There were a lot of shitty parts about him that no-one else really knew— that ice-cold glare he always levelled whenever someone distracted him from his work, or that kick in the shin he would never hesitate to give Beomgyu whenever he was being an idiot. 

The ease with which he could lie to others, and the way he could cut in _deep_ to anyone who crossed his path. That infuriatingly smug grin of his whenever he got a higher score on his exam, or the evil glint in his eyes as he played a calculated prank on their youngest.

His unabashed laughter whenever Beomgyu made a dumb comment, followed by a teasing prod at the elder’s scowl. 

The way his side profile looked as he turned to peek at whatever it was Hyuka wanted to show him that day. 

Or maybe the way Taehyun prepared a lunch box for him every day, regardless of how annoyed or exasperated he was with him prior.

He really didn’t like Taehyun. 

With a scowl, he looks down.

Taehyun was a boy, anyhow. Not that it really mattered, but chances were that even if Beomgyu were to _somehow_ develop feelings for him, Taehyun probably wouldn’t even like him back.

His expression falters.

It was a good thing that he didn’t like Taehyun, then.

The girl stares at him for a few moments, almost unsure how to respond, before her lips curl almost sympathetically.

“It’s okay, Beomgyu-ssi— I’ve seen the way you look at him. I mean…I knew I never had a chance with him around, but I…I guess I just wanted to be certain,” she says, rubbing the back of her neck.

Blinking, Beomgyu stares back at her, as if she had grown a second head.

“What? You—” before he can utter another word, the girl suddenly leans forward and pats him on the head.

“Treat him well, won’t you?” she smiles briefly, although somewhat tightly, before walking off.

He can only stare after her, not sure how to react.

_Fuck._

Irritably, the conversation stays with him for the rest of the day; replaying over and over again like a broken record. 

He thinks that it’s pathetic— that it bothers him to this extent. 

But it’s not something that he can escape from through physical means. It stays in his head, regardless of how hard he tries to keep it out, pulling out all of his thoughts by the roots.

Because why exactly had that girl thought that he liked Taehyun? And what exactly had she meant by _the way Beomgyu looked at him?_

He closes his eyes with a sigh. 

So was this all his fault?

Had Taehyun sensed something off about him that made him want to stay away— more than the delinquency and the rule-breaking already did?

Even Hyuka had become more reserved around him, talking more nervously and carefully than before— just like when he had first started eating lunch with the two.

All the way back to square one.

“You know, even if I gave up on you, it still hurts if you come to me for love advice,” Jiyoung pouts one day, leaning back against a wall as Beomgyu folds his arms.

He almost snorts, before holding himself back. He needed to get on her good side.

“’S not love advice. I just need to know what to do if someone’s avoiding me,” he grits his teeth.

With a sad smile, she shakes her head.

“Taehyun, you mean?” she asks.

He looks at the ground.

“Yeah. Taehyun.”

She comes again a few days later, and a few days after that.

Somehow it’s cathartic— talking to a stranger about all of his fears, even if he delivers them in that same, curt way that he always has. Because Jiyoung is a good listener, and despite her initial impression, Beomgyu finds that they actually get along somewhat.

Strangely, he also realises that it’s the first time he’s made a friend on his own.

With a scowl, he supposes that isn’t right either— without having met Taehyun, he most likely would have bitten off Jiyoung’s head long ago. 

Hell, he wouldn’t have even bothered to remember her name.

It’s weird. No— different. 

He wishes he could share it with Taehyun.

As he sits in class each day, expression tight, drumming his fingers against the desk, _trying_ to think of anything else, he can’t help but go back to thoughts of the younger. 

Wonders what Taehyun would be like in class right now, away from his burning gaze.

With a frown, Beomgyu rests his head against his palm.

Would he be quiet and far away like he usually was these days? Or was he only like that around Beomgyu? Maybe he was sat up all prim and proper, imaginary glasses perched up on his nose as he paid utmost attention to the teacher.

At the vision, Beomgyu’s lip curls slightly to himself.

Nerd.

By the time he looks up again, the teacher is already leaving the classroom, the bell’s piercing shriek ringing in his ears.

He barely has time to push out of his seat, when he’s suddenly pinned to the ground by two students, a heavy shoe on his chest.

“Quick, close the doors!” a voice barks, and Beomgyu vaguely registers its familiarity.

He had thought this would be all over by now. 

“Get off of me,” he threatens the two on top of him, who hesitate momentarily, before continuing to hold him down. Gritting his teeth, he launches several vicious kicks from his position on the ground, sending the two students on top of him flying off, groaning in pain.

“You should’ve listened when I asked nicely,” he spits, before head-butting another one.

“Fuck! Someone, stop him!” the injured student chokes, and suddenly, he’s being held back down by two backup students.

He snarls, trying to break his way through, when he sees Hueningkai being detained in the far corner of the room as well. His eyes widen.

A shadow promptly passes over him, blocking the younger from his line of sight. Freezing, his eyes trace their way up, before coming to a stop on that twisted smirk he had come to know too well.

Jinkyung. 

With a curled lip, Beomgyu wonders if this was his revenge. This time, he’s not even able to fight back properly— to land in the few punches that he was able to get through like last time, from his secured position on the ground.

So instead he closes his eyes, as if challenging. 

And waits for the blow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all, sorry for the very late update! Unfortunately, it's been a tough few months, but I hope you enjoy the chapter! 
> 
> I'd like to thank everyone who commented on the previous chapter even after I disappeared for a while. I'll respond to comments soon, but I love you all and hope you're staying safe.


	16. Chapter 16

Playing with his fingers nervously, Taehyun sits at his table, waiting for Hueningkai and Beomgyu to show up.

Fifteen minutes had already passed without any sign from either of them, and anxiously, he begins to wonder whether they had simply realised he was too much work to put up with.

Or maybe they had finally caught onto his increasingly stilted and distant nature, and wanted to give him a taste of his own medicine.

He runs a hand through his hair with a sigh. Either way, this was most definitely his own fault.

Why did he have to go ahead and ruin things with his unnecessary feelings? Was it really so hard not to fall for the one person out of the two that he could call a friend at this school?

He holds his head in his hands, waiting in anguish. 

No. Because he was an idiot.

_So much for being the sensible one,_ he thinks miserably, closing his eyes.

Another five minutes pass, before he finally gets up to buy a drink from the vending machine.

It’s the only thing he can do really— run away from his problems.

To his surprise, before he can even make it out the door, he comes to a head with Soobin, who stares back at him with a sort of pinched frown.

Taehyun stops.

“Oh, Taehyun,” the elder says, folding his hands behind his back. A few surrounding students stare at them, whispering from behind cupped hands.

“How can I help?” Taehyun asks in surprise, eyes flickering up inquisitively.

“I came by to check up on your progress with Beomgyu. I don’t know if you’re aware, but it’ll be the final one before the council reaches their decision,” the elder replies.

Pausing momentarily, Taehyun purses his lips, unsure how to respond.

The final one…?

So this was it— the deciding factor determining the rest of Beomgyu’s high school fate.

But how exactly could he account for the other’s absence when he didn’t even know the cause for it himself? 

Should he tell the truth, or should he lie?

“He wasn’t feeling well, so we decided to cancel our lessons today,” he returns with a polite smile.

Frowning, Soobin cocks his head.

“Is that so? Well do you know where I might be able to find him?” 

Taehyun slowly shakes his head.

“Alright, then. I’ll need to check his classroom. Come with me,” the elder nods.

At this, Taehyun’s eyes widen.

Come to see Beomgyu when the elder probably didn’t even want to see him himself…? He looks down at the ground.

“Oh no, I’d rather not—“ he starts.

“It wasn’t a question, Taehyun. I’d rather you be there,” Soobin responds, lips pursed.

The younger stills momentarily, before nodding, palms sweating.

“Alright.”

Biting his lip, he curses internally at himself, head kept down. 

What had this all come down to?

If he suddenly showed up at Beomgyu’s classroom without his permission and Beomgyu ended up telling him off, he would surely die of embarrassment. 

Slowly, his cheeks seep with pink.

Gah. The Taehyun he knew months ago would never have been affected by something like this.

_That_ Taehyun probably would have just brushed things off, not even hesitating to cut off loose ends.

But that Taehyun was no longer with him anymore. The new Taehyun was the only thing left, all raw and exposed, and he doesn’t know what to do at all. He despises the feeling.

As they make their way to the classroom, he keeps his fingers curled tightly at his side, anxiety reaching sky-high levels. So was this really going to be the end of his friendship with Beomgyu?

Was this— 

He immediately comes to a stop, frowning upon meeting a barricade of students at the door, blocking entry.

“What’s going on?” he tries to ask a student, before being pushed back. 

He blinks.

“Move aside, I’ll handle this,” Soobin murmurs, before gently easing Taehyun out of the way.

“What’s the meaning of this? Move out of the way at once!” he calls out, and almost like the red sea, the students trip over themselves to part out of the way.

“Fuck, it’s Soobin!” Taehyun hears someone hiss, before shoving someone else out of the way.

“Wait, Jinkyung told us to hold the fort under all circumstances!” another protests.

“Are you crazy? I’m not risking expulsion!”

As Soobin finally gets to the front of the line, he casts an icy glare at everyone still in his periphery. They all stare back somewhat defiantly, until he towers over them, casting dark shadows over the area.

“I don’t think I need to remind you that I _will_ remember all of those who continue to stand in my way,” he says, voice dangerously quiet.

After a moment of silence, they all gradually move out of the way. 

As he unlocks the door, Taehyun pales at the sight before him.

Beomgyu lies on the ground with several bruises across his face, blood catching slightly on his lip. Surrounding him are four students holding him down.

At the very centre stands Jinkyung, who turns at the last minute with surprise at the sudden entrance.

Against all of his bodily urges to run to Beomgyu’s side and help him up, Taehyun stays where he is, frozen. 

At the sight, Jinkyung’s eyes widen with fear momentarily, before it morphs into something else entirely; rehearsed and entirely transparent to someone well versed in creating masks like Taehyun.

He steps forward.

“Soobin-ssi! Thank god you’re here!” Jinkyung cries, feigned relief across his features.

Taehyun stills, unable to tear his eyes away from Beomgyu’s compromised position on the ground. He watches the blond cough, holding onto his stomach with low, harsh breaths.

So he had really been thinking about himself, when Beomgyu had been suffering this entire time all alone. How could he have been so blind? 

No— he stops himself. Selfish was the word.

“What’s going on here?” Soobin asks sharply, drawing all surrounding eyes towards him.

“This- this delinquent here tried to attack us earlier, so we tied him up for you to apprehend him,” Jinkyung takes another step forward, feigned concern etched across his face.

Soobin turns back to the sight.

Suddenly, all four students surrounding Beomgyu look fearful, the latter’s animalistic appearance only enhancing the imagined vision more.

“It’s true! He just went wild, and we had to stop him,” one of the students shakes his head mournfully.

“We just don’t know what came over him.”

Taehyun looks back and forth between the four, blinking.

Surely Soobin could see what was going on here, right?

A moment of silence passes, before the elder nods in acknowledgement.

“Well, I’m disappointed to say I expected better. Pick him up,” Soobin flicks a finger towards Beomgyu’s body on the ground. Taehyun’s heart drops.

“Wait, stop!” he sees a sudden flurry of motion, as a boy rips his way out of the corner of the room, finger indents all along his arm. Taehyun’s eyes widen when he realises it’s not just any boy.

_Hyuka_.

“He’s lying!” the younger calls out, eyes fierce.

The room comes to a standstill, staring at him. Taehyun blinks rapidly at him— at his sudden conviction, and swallows.

“I saw him attack Beomgyu hyung first, and—” Hueningkai starts, before suddenly wincing at a carefully directed elbow to the ribs by the boy next to him. 

“Shut your mouth if you don’t want to die,” the boy hisses, causing Taehyun to move forward instinctively. With an outstretched hand, Soobin stops him in his tracks.

He draws his lips into a line with his teeth.

“Now, now, let’s play nice. I mean come on, is that really believable? I’m a model student. The delinquent was the one who attacked me last time as well. Isn’t that right?” Jinkyung turns back to Soobin, challenging.

A moment of silence passes, before the latter shrugs, expression unchanged.

“He’s right,” Soobin responds neutrally.

Turning back to him in surprise, Taehyun frowns.

What was the elder playing at? It was entirely obvious what was going on in front of them, and yet the other was going along with Jinkyung’s whims, as if nothing had happened.

“Can anyone else vouch for this story?” Soobin asks, raising an eyebrow.

Seeing the temporary victory of the elder, the four surrounding students begin to take their chances, jumping up.

“I can,” they each call out, one by one.

Soobin purses his lips.

“You’re going to believe us, aren’t you? It’s five against one,” Jinkyung asks, eyes pressuring.

Taehyun turns to Soobin, but finds that his expression is entirely neutral.

He pales. He couldn’t—

_“Well it seems like Hyuka’s plan worked. You’re going to be safe,” Taehyun replies, smiling._

_Beomgyu considers this for a moment, before looking to the side._

_“We don’t know that. At the end of the day, they’re probably just a bunch of self-serving pricks,” he retorts, staring at the ground, as if daring not to hope._

He blinks, trying to shake off the memory. Could Beomgyu have been right?

“I—“ Soobin starts, before the doors suddenly burst open.

“Hueningie?” comes the questioning tone from the doors, and Taehyun whips around to see Yeonjun standing at the doors, an incredulous look on his face. Jinkyung stiffens noticeably.

“I came by to see you, but there was all this commotion outside,” the elder raises his phone, before he looks down at the sight.

“What the hell is going on here?” his eyes suddenly narrow. He turns to Soobin.

“Don’t tell me you allowed a fight to happen under your watch?”

Soobin blinks momentarily, stunned at the accusation, before reverting back to his neutral expression. 

“Hardly. I only arrived here in the aftermath, to make a decision about the disciplinary measures,” he responds.

Head rolling to face towards the door, Beomgyu winces slightly, catching Taehyun’s attention. Unwittingly, the younger looks down— straight into Beomgyu’s eyes.

Flinching, Taehyun almost looks away— moreso out of shame at how he had treated the elder in recent days than anything else, before steeling himself.

No— he needed to get a grip on himself and stop thinking that his mask of indifference was helping anyone. 

The last thing Beomgyu probably wanted to see or think while injured, lying on a cold wooden floor, was that Taehyun didn’t _care_.

“Get them off of him,” Taehyun whispers to Soobin, eyes pleading.

Soobin doesn’t respond— only stares straight ahead, expression unchanging. The younger’s expression cracks.

At the exchange, Yeonjun’s eyes shift slightly to catch Taehyun’s own, and upon seeing his expression, he gives Taehyun an almost imperceptible nod.

What was he…?

Commanding all of the attention in the room, Yeonjun suddenly turns to Hueningkai, expression stern.

“Tell me what happened here.”

When Jinkyung rises up to protest, Yeonjun sends him a glare so sharp that he backs down again. Eyes flickering between the two, Hueningkai moves forward, nodding.

“We were about to leave for lunch, when Jinkyung-ssi attacked Beomgyu hyung out of the blue. I had heard him say something about revenge earlier, but he held me back so I was unable to report it,” Hueningkai responds.

Eyes widening, Yeonjun whips around to stare at the alleged perpetrator.

“What? You really think that’s believable?” Jinkyung scoffs, before pointing down at Beomgyu’s body. When the latter tries to get back up, the other students pin him back down again.

Taehyun makes a move to go forward, but he’s pushed back by Soobin once again with one large hand. This time, the look in his eyes is clear.

_Don’t make a scene. I’ll handle it._

“So you’re saying Hueningkai lied?” Yeonjun raises an eyebrow.

“Of course! Just look at him! He’s clearly a dishonest—” the boy starts passionately.

“I would watch your tone if I were you, Jinkyung-ssi. We both know there can be consequences for you running your mouth too much,” Yeonjun says coldly, to which the other boy stiffens.

Taehyun glances between the two of them confused. What power did the elder have to make Jinkyung so nervous?

He swallows.

“I— let’s not be too hasty, Yeonjun-ssi. I mean, Soobin-ssi agrees with me, doesn’t he?” Jinkyung looks back to Soobin, whose expression hasn’t changed a single fraction.

When he doesn’t respond, Yeonjun scoffs.

“Typical,” he says.

With a triumphant grin, Jinkyung raises his arms.

“See? You two never agree on anything. Since no proper conclusion can be drawn, let’s just leave this—” he starts, before being abruptly cut off by Soobin. Taehyun raises his head in surprise, and sees a gentle hand by Yeonjun being placed on Soobin’s arm. 

“No, Jinkyung-ssi. I was just making sure I hadn’t misunderstood the situation,” Soobin replies coldly.

Jinkyung’s eyebrows raise.

“What do you mean? This situation hardly explains anything!” he frowns.

“Not just this situation. All others before this one too,” Soobin responds. Taehyun’s eyes widen.

“I have voice recordings of each of your confessed misbehaviours in my possession, Jinkyung-ssi— ones which I will soon take up with the principal. I was merely testing to see if you’d confess to what was _obviously_ an orchestrated attack by you. Obviously I was wrong to hold out hope,” Soobin’s lip curls, before looking around the room, as if committing every face to memory.

“You- you can’t do that—“ Jinkyung breathes out in a sort of mad laugh. 

“I can’t believe it myself,” Yeonjun responds, slightly dazed as he looks at Soobin. The younger student council co-president quickly turns away, expression awkward. 

“Ahem. Actually, we can do that,” he responds, focusing his attention back on Jinkyung. 

“What- what about that piece of trash delinquent, huh? He hurt me so many times— fuck, I could sue him. How does he get to go—“ Jinkyung starts hysterically, before being cut off abruptly.

“Do what you want outside of school. But I don’t think your family would be too happy with these developments to allow you to do that,” Soobin raises an eyebrow.

Jinkyung turns between the two with a look of pure disbelief.

As a silence falls over the classroom, Jinkyung turns to look at his lackeys, who immediately look away, the situation immediately dawning upon them that it would be better to jump ship. 

He pales.

Shaking, Jinkyung takes a step forward, ready to lunge, when he trips over Beomgyu’s leg and is sent sprawling to the ground. 

“Fuck—”

Under the student council presidents’ orders, two students immediately come and pull Jinkyung away to the principal’s office.

Without a moment’s hesitation, no longer caring about Soobin’s instructions, Taehyun rushes forward towards Beomgyu and kneels down, pushing back the sweaty blond hair from his forehead.

“Nice one,” he breathes out, before letting out a huff of laughter.

Beomgyu barely manages the strength to mirror one back to him, before looking up at the ceiling.

“It’s finally over,” he murmurs, more to himself than anything.

He then looks back down to Taehyun, whose eyes shine oddly.

“You know…when you both didn’t come, I thought you guys had finally gotten sick of me,” the younger jokes, albeit somewhat nervously.

“Nah, was just busy getting beaten up,” Beomgyu shrugs, before wincing.

“I thought you always won your fights,” Taehyun teases, raising an eyebrow. But unlike before, the elder only sends him a fond look back.

“It’s a good thing I have you here to protect me now, isn’t it?” Beomgyu responds, before leaning forward to curl his fingers around Taehyun’s arm.

Taehyun pauses momentarily, before allowing the movement. 

So this was it, huh?

All of his efforts at staying away from Beomgyu ruined by a single touch. 

With eyes shining, somehow, he doesn’t regret it. 

“Beomgyu hyung, I’m so glad you’re alright!” Hueningkai suddenly rushes forward before fussing over the elder like a mother hen.

Moving slightly to the side to make space for the younger, Taehyun makes sure his hands never leave the elder’s in the process, holding onto him like a lifeline.

“Geez, no need to make a big deal of it,” Beomgyu wrinkles his nose, although his fond expression gives him away. 

As Taehyun looks up, he sees Yeonjun and Soobin walking out of the classroom together, heads close together in discussion— an unforeseen sight that turns all of the heads in the corridor— and he thinks maybe they had changed things in more than one aspect.

He leans down again, before helping Beomgyu up with Hyuka’s help.

“Do you need to go to the nurse’s office again?” Taehyun asks, concerned. Before Beomgyu can even reply, Taehyun continues on, slightly out of breath.

“He didn’t break anything, did he? Because it looked really painful, and there was a lot of bruising, so I swear—“ he says, before Beomgyu holds up a hand to stop him.

“I’m fine, Taehyun. I promise,” the elder interjects with the barest hint of a smile.

A look of understanding passes between them.

“More importantly, do you think there’s still time to have lunch?” Hueningkai pipes in sheepishly. At this, Taehyun lets out a huff of laughter, ruffling the younger’s hair fondly.

“There’s always time,” Beomgyu replies absent-mindedly, eyes never leaving Taehyun’s own.

Somehow, it feels like a promise.


End file.
